Data source: The Ocean Health Index
The Ocean Health Index is a valuable tool for the ongoing assessment of ocean health. By providing a means to advance comprehensive ocean policy and compare future progress, the Index can inform decisions about how to use or protect marine ecosystems.
The Index is a collaborative effort, made possible through contributions from more than 65 scientists/ocean experts and partnerships between organizations including the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Sea Around Us, Conservation International, National Geographic, and the New England Aquarium.
The Index assesses the ocean based on 10 widely-held public goals for a healthy ocean. They are: Food Provision, Artisanal Fishing Opportunities, Natural Products, Carbon Storage, Coastal Protection, Sense of Place, Coastal Livelihoods & Economies, Tourism & Recreation, Clean Waters, Biodiversity.
Please note that every year the OHI team improve the Ocean Health Index by incorporating new data, knowledge, and feedback. In order to make scores comparable among years, they recalculate previous year’s results using the most recent methods and data.
When using this dataset, please cite as:
(Halpern et al.,
2012)
(Ocean Health Index,
2024)
Browse variables and select them for download.
ohi_aoacc
Fisheries management effectiveness and opportunity. The effectiveness of fisheries management in all countries with coastal areas is assessed by using a combination of surveys, empirical data, and enq ...
ohi_caacid
Ocean acidification. The Ocean acidification layer models the difference in global distribution changes in the aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) between pre-industrial (~1870) and modern times (2000- ...
ohi_chp
Coastal human population as a proxy for trend in trash. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: CIESIN & CIAT (Center for International Earth Science Information Ne ...
ohi_csslr
Sea level rise. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Nicholls R. J. and Cazenave A. (2010). Sea-level rise and its impact on coastal zones. Science 328: 1517-15 ...
ohi_csst
Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. SST of the ocean is indicated by measurements taken at depths that range from 1 millimeter to 20 meters. This measurement does not indicate absolute temperatur ...
ohi_cuv
UV radiation. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the portion of solar radiation with wavelengths of 200-400 nanometers (nm). UV Radiation was measured as the number of times in each 1-degree cell that the ...
ohi_fah
High bycatch caused by artisanal fishing. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: Reefs at Risk Revisited (http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-at-risk-revisited). ...
ohi_fchb
High bycatch caused by commercial fishing. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: Halpern, B. S. et al. (2008) A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. S ...
ohi_fclb
Low bycatch caused by commercial fishing. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: Halpern, B. S. et al. (2008) A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Sc ...
ohi_hab
CBD survey: habitat. A resilience measure based on questions 153(a,b,c,e,g) and 158(a,b,c,f,g,h) from The Convention on Biological Diversity country questionnaire (Third National Report to the CBD, f ...
ohi_habcom
CBD survey: coastal habitat. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD (http://www.cbd.int/reports/search/default.shtml). ...
ohi_habeez
CBD survey: ocean habitat. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD (http://www.cbd.int/reports/search/default.shtml). Wh ...
ohi_hdinter
Coastal population density as a proxy for intertidal habitat destruction. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: CIESIN & CIAT (Center for International Earth Sci ...
ohi_hshb
High bycatch artisanal fishing practices as a proxy for subtidal hard bottom habitat destruction. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Reefs at Risk Revisited ( ...
ohi_hssb
Demersal destructive commercial fishing practices relative to soft-bottom habitat area as a proxy for soft bottom habitat destruction. For more details on the variable construction, see the original s ...
ohi_lpai
Coastal protected areas inland 1km. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: United Nations - World Conservation Monitoring Centre's World Database on Protected Are ...
ohi_lpao
Coastal marine protected areas offshore 3km. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: United Nations - World Conservation Monitoring Centre's World Database on Prot ...
ohi_maricul
CBD Survey: Mariculture. A resilience measure based on questions 158(d) and 159(a-l) from The Convention on Biological Diversity country questionnaire (Third National Report to the CBD, from 2005). ...
ohi_npblast
Areas of observed blast (dynamite) fishing. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: Reefs at Risk Revisited (http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-at-risk-revisited) ...
ohi_npcyan
Areas of observed poison fishing. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: Reefs at Risk Revisited (http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-at-risk-revisited) When u ...
ohi_ohi
The Ocean Health Index establishes reference points for achieving ten widely accepted socio-ecological objectives and scores the oceans adjacent to 171 countries and territories on how successfully th ...
ohi_pc3
Coastal chemical pollution within 3 nautical miles (nm) offshore. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Halpern, B. S. et al. (2015). Spatial and temporal change ...
ohi_pchem
Chemical pollution is measured as the average of land-based organic pollution, land-based inorganic pollution, and ocean-based pollution from commercial shipping and port as proxies. For more deta ...
ohi_pn3
Coastal fertilizer pollution as a proxy for nutrient pollution within 3 nautical miles (nm) offshore. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Halpern, B. S. et al. ...
ohi_pnutrient
Fertilizer pollution as a proxy for nutrient pollution. For more details on the variable construction, see the original sources: Halpern, B. S. et al. (2015). Spatial and temporal changes in cumul ...
ohi_ptrash
Trash pollution. Estimated by the tons of litter per km of beach collected during beach cleanups organized by the Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas Alliance in 96 countries and locations. For mo ...
ohi_saali
Alien species are non-indigenous organisms introduced into an ecosystem that is not their native habitat either by accident or intentionally. Measured by total counts of all invasive species according ...
ohi_tjpt
Percent direct employment in tourism. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: World Travel and Tourism Council, WTTC (http://www.wttc.org/research/economic-data-sea ...
ohi_tour
CBD Survey: Tourism. A resilience measure based on questions 79, 80, and 82 from The Convention on Biological Diversity country questionnaire (Third National Report to the CBD, from 2005). Questio ...
ohi_trsust
Sustainability index. For more details on the variable construction, see the original source: World Economic Forum (http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness) When using this variabl ...
ohi_water
CBD Survey: water. A resilience measure based on question 153(d,f) from The Convention on Biological Diversity country questionnaire (Third National Report to the CBD, from 2005). Question 153(d,f ...