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Overview of goals and subgoals

Table A. Description of 10 goals used to calculate OHI scores.

In several tables and figures we refer to the goals and subgoals by their abbreviation. Goals and subgoals have a 2 and 3 character abbreviation, respectively.

Goal Abbreviation Description
Food Provision FP The sustainable harvest of seafood from wild-caught fisheries and mariculture
Artisanal Fishing Opportunity AO The opportunity for small-scale fishers to supply catch for their families, members of their local communities, or sell in local markets
Natural Products NP The natural resources that are sustainably extracted from living marine resources
Carbon Storage CS The condition of coastal habitats that store and sequester atmospheric carbon
Coastal Livelihoods and Economies LE Coastal and ocean-dependent livelihoods (job quantity and quality) and economies (revenues) produced by marine sectors
Tourism and Recreation TR The value people have for experiencing and enjoying coastal areas through activities such as sailing, recreational fishing, beach-going, and bird watching
Sense of Place SP The conservation status of iconic species (e.g., salmon, whales) and geographic locations that contribute to cultural identity
Clean Waters CW The degree to which ocean regions are free of contaminants such as chemicals, eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, disease pathogens, and trash
Biodiversity BD The conservation status of native marine species and key habitats that serve as a proxy for the suite of species that depend upon them
Coastal Protection CP The amount of protection provided by marine and coastal habitats serving as natural buffers against incoming waves
Table B. Description of subgoals used to calculate OHI scores.

The following goals are comprised of 2 subgoals:biodiversity, food provision, sense of place, livelihoods and economies goals.

Subgoal Goal Abbreviation Description
Fisheries Food provision FIS The sustainable harvest of seafood from wild-caught fisheries
Mariculture Food provision MAR The sustainable harvest of seafood from mariculture practices
Habitat Biodiversity HAB The status of key habitats that serve as a proxy for the suite of species that depend upon them
Species condition Biodiversity SPP The conservation status of native marine species
Iconic species Sense of place ICO The conservation status of iconic species (e.g., salmon, whales) that contribute to cultural identity
Lasting special places Sense of place LSP The conservation status of geographic locations that contribute to cultural identity
Livelihoods Coastal livelihoods and economies LIV Coastal and ocean-dependent livelihoods (job quantity and quality) produced by marine sectors
Economies Coastal livelihoods and economies ECO Coastal and ocean-dependent economies (revenues) produced by marine sectors

Datasets and additional information

See the Methods document for more information about the models and data used to calculate the global Ocean Health Index.

A CSV formatted dataset from the 2021 assessment is available, right click on data and select “Save as…”. These data include index and goal/subgoal scores (as well as the dimensions used to calculate scores: status, trend, pressure, resilience) for all 9 assessment years (2012-2021). See README for description of data.

The data layers (described in section 7 in Methods) and functions used to calculate scores can be downloaded from Github: ohi-global v2021.1: Global scenarios data for Ocean Health Index.

The files used to prepare data layers for the ohi-global assessment can be downloaded from Github: ohiprep v2021.1: Preparation of data for 2021 Ocean Health Index global assessment.

The core functions used to calculate OHI scores can be downloaded as a package from Github, using the following code in R:

install.packages('devtools')
library(devtools)

install_github('ohi-science/ohicore')
library(ohicore)

Summary of score results

Figure A. Regional 2021 OHI index scores.

Map (top) and histogram (bottom) of 2021 index scores for each OHI region.

Figure B. Flowerplot of 2021 goal/subgoal scores

Flowerplot describing the 2021 average global index (middle) and goal (petals) scores. Scores are an eez area weighted average of regional scores.

Flower plots for each region can be downloaded from here

Figure C. Maps and histograms of 2021 OHI goal scores.

The 2021 scores for each of the 10 OHI goals displayed for each region (left) and as a histogram (right).

Figure D. Maps and histograms of 2021 OHI subgoal scores.

The subgoal 202q scores for the following goals: biodiversity, foob provision, sense of place, and livelihoods and economies. The scores are displayed as a map (left) and histogram (right).

Figure E. Country scores across scenario year

Overview of the scores from the 2021 assessment. Each row represents a region, the main groupings represent goals, and within each goal there are 9 years of data. Black regions indicate no data. Download the png version to zoom in to see specific regions.

This plot is good for providing a quick overview of:

  • What is the range of scores?
  • Which goals tend to have high scores across most regions (species, habitat)
  • Which goals have a lot of variation across regions (tourism & recreation, lasting special places)
  • Which goals are volatile across years (natural products, tourism & recreation)

Summary of average annual change in scores

Table C. Global average scores for index and goals.

Global scores (eez area weighted average of all regions) for index and goal/subgoals for all years.

goal 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Index 69.62 70.21 70.60 70.84 70.87 70.64 70.58 70.27 70.23 70.22
Artisanal opportunities 75.09 75.58 76.02 76.01 75.25 74.45 74.46 74.18 74.82 74.20
Species condition (subgoal) 79.59 79.29 78.99 78.69 78.40 78.10 77.80 77.51 77.22 77.20
Biodiversity 81.61 81.48 81.32 81.34 81.33 81.14 80.92 80.69 80.39 80.44
Habitat (subgoal) 83.63 83.67 83.66 83.98 84.27 84.18 84.04 83.87 83.57 83.68
Coastal protection 82.55 82.50 82.56 82.78 82.70 82.20 81.88 81.63 81.69 81.84
Carbon storage 77.79 77.79 77.78 77.79 77.80 77.80 77.80 77.82 77.82 77.80
Clean water 67.68 67.61 68.50 68.77 69.15 69.26 69.40 69.00 69.20 70.19
Fisheries (subgoal) 53.71 54.37 54.90 54.82 54.08 53.75 53.36 53.50 53.54 53.36
Food provision 50.59 51.07 51.40 51.13 50.48 50.20 49.88 49.87 49.81 49.69
Mariculture (subgoal) 5.52 5.43 5.44 5.49 5.62 5.75 5.87 5.97 6.07 6.23
Iconic species (subgoal) 63.70 64.57 64.64 65.06 64.31 64.18 65.14 62.52 60.33 60.22
Sense of place 59.98 60.37 60.85 61.21 61.24 62.05 63.07 62.13 60.91 60.96
Lasting special places (subgoal) 56.27 56.17 57.06 57.36 58.16 59.92 61.00 61.73 61.48 61.71
Natural products 76.43 76.41 77.73 78.42 78.33 77.61 76.36 75.34 75.99 75.21
Tourism & recreation 47.24 48.30 48.96 50.15 51.56 50.69 51.02 50.87 50.63 50.82
Figure F. Average annual change in OHI Index scores.

Map (top) and histogram (bottom) of the slope estimates from a linear regression model of the Index scores from 2012 to 2021 for each region.

Figure G. Average annual change in OHI goal scores.

Map of the slope estimates from a linear regression model of the 10 goal scores from 2012 to 2021 for each region.

Figure H. Average annual change in OHI subgoal scores.

Map of the slope estimates from a linear regression model of the 8 subgoal scores from 2012 to 2021 for each region. The subgoal scores for the following goals: biodiversity, food provision, sense of place, and livelihoods and economies. The scores are displayed as a map (left) and histogram (right).


Figure J. Comparing trend and average index scores

To obtain a more complete picture of which regions are doing well and which are doing poorly we compared the average index scores (averaged over 2012 to 2021) and the trends for each region.

Of most concern are regions that have poor scores and declining trends.

The following is an interactive plot (region names are visible when hovering over the points) showing the relationship between average index scores and trend. The horizontal line represents the 0 trend and the vertical line is the average of the average index scores.