Overview

In 2018, we launched the Ocean Health Index Fellows Program and we (Melanie Frazier and Julie Lowndes) led its first-ever cohort of three Fellows. The Fellows conducted the annual global assessment using our open data science tools and workflows. The Fellows successfully calculated global OHI scores for 2018 while learning important skills that are valuable to the global OHI team, as well as the broader environmental data science community.

The Ocean Health index (OHI) is a framework that uses data science principles to measure how sustainably we are using ocean resources. This definition highlights two main points: data science principles and ocean resource management. As an OHI Global Fellow, we were trained on the data science tools and workflows OHI uses to conduct the annual global assessment.

The analogies for environmental indicators are endless. They are like the blood pressure of health, the stock values of investments, the GDP of economies. Their abundance may be rivaled only by that of indicators themselves – nutrient concentrations in water, fish biomass yields, sea surface temperature, species populations… and the list of ways we measure the status of our natural assets goes on.

Part 1: Under pressure

Recently, OHI team member Julie Stewart Lowndes was awarded a fellowship with Mozilla – yes, the same Mozilla that created the Firefox browser. That might seem like a leap from her duties on the OHI team but the aim of Mozilla Fellowships is to keep the internet a force for good, which includes making scientific research more open.