Indicators of Ocean Health

Top Indicators of Ocean Health

Background

A healthy ocean benefits us all! But, what does that mean exactly: Abundant seafood? A lot of whales and sea turtles? Thriving habitats? Sustainable use?

It’s a tough question. The ocean is complicated and includes physical, chemical, biological and human aspects that all interact to form complex relationships. It’s impossible to keep track of them all! That’s why indicators, measurements that can be representative of overall health, were developed. Indicators are continuously monitored through a partnership with DEC and Stonybrook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Indicators of Ocean Health

Indicator Defined: A sign that shows what something is like or how a situation is changing. It can help us measure current conditions and identify trends that can indicate future changes.

Experts picked out important signs of ocean health and grouped them into three categories or ecosystem components: Physical and Chemical, Biological, and Human Populations.

Annual Monitoring

To develop and update the above indicators regular monitoring of various parameters, like temperature and fish biomass, is needed. With advancements in technological processing and storage, there has been a large push to make data from various monitoring efforts available to both facilitate collaboration and to increase general efficiency. Therefore, data was pulled from publicly available partner sources to develop the Indicators of Ocean Health for New York when possible (see full reports for sources). However, developing some of the prioritized indictors required directly collecting the data related to those parameters. In other words, additional monitoring was required. Therefore, the DEC supports extensive monitoring efforts led by partners at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS). This additional monitoring is accomplished using the SoMAS research vessel, the Seawolf, small boat surveys, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) called a Slocum Glider, and bottom moorings that can collect data for a set amount of time before being retrieved to download the information. Separate annual reports specifically on these monitoring efforts are also available in the full report section.

SoMAS staff and students working on the Indicators of Ocean Health project.

PhD students prepare to catch a drone on boat — PhD student Nathan prepares to catch a drone flown by PhD student Chelsi. This drone is used to measure whales to evaluate their body condition and document their behaviors.

deckhand and student taking the cod end off the zooplankton ring net to see what was caught in the tow. — Deckhand John and MS student Monique taking the cod end off the zooplankton ring net to see what was caught in the tow.

technician processing the contents of a zooplankton net tow in a sieve — Technician Tyler processing the contents of a zooplankton net tow in a sieve.

students collecting carbonate chemistry water samples from CTD — Left to right: Technician Tyler, MS student Paige, and PhD student Sarah collect carbonate chemistry water samples from the CTD.

deckhand and student deploying the zooplankton net — Deckhand John and former MS student Rachel deploying the zooplankton net.

students processing zooplankton samples — MS students Monique and Dean processing zooplankton samples.

Indicators at a Glance

Open the accordion to see a quick summary of the indicators within each category. The long-term trend column indicates an increase or decrease in any significant linear trend over the whole time series of that indicator. The short-term trend shows whether the indicator was above average (>70^th percentile), average (30 – 70^th percentiles), or below average (30^th percentile) for the past 3 years. Summaries have been updated to include the 2023 monitoring season.

Temperatures continue to rise within the New York Bight, both at the sea surface and bottom, and across all seasons. Mean summer surface temperatures have plateaued the last five years but it is unlikely that this represents an ongoing cessation of warming, but rather a temporary pause. Marine heatwave days also reflect this warming, with an increase in both surface and bottom heatwaves. As temperatures warm the cold pool is shrinking as indicated by the decrease in volume across summer months. An increase in warm core Gulf Stream rings impinging on the shelf (Gawarkiewicz et al., 2022; Silver et al., 2023) could be the cause of this increase and may have implications for the shelf ecosystem in terms of ring transport of heat, nutrients and marine organisms. The cold pool was especially small during the summer of 2022 as evidenced by glider data. Bottle data collected by Stony Brook’s RV Seawolf from the summer of 2022 also shows an anomalously large region of ocean acidification concern associated with the 1.7 (Ω) aragonite contour. A decrease in the size of the cold pool affects summer ocean acidification and could have implications for calcifying organisms.

	Indicator	Long Term	Short Term	Summary
1	Sea Surface Temperature	Increasing 1982-2023	Above Average All Seasons	Rising temperatures across all seasons can create an inhospitable environment for some marine species.
2	Marine Heatwave Days
	Surface	Increasing 1982-2023	Above Average	Surface marine heatwaves have increased, especially since 2010.
	Bottom	Increasing 1993-2023	Above Average	Bottom marine heatwaves have increased, especially since 2010.
3	Bottom Temperature	Increasing 1960-2023	Above Average All Seasons	Bottom temperature has increased across all seasons, potentially creating an inhospitable environment for many marine species.
4	Cold Pool	Decreasing 1993-2023	Below Average during June, July, August, September	The Cold Pool is a region of cold water along the seafloor during summer. It provides an important habitat for many marine organisms. Cold Pool volume has decreased across all summer months since 1993. Glider based indicator shows the smallest volume during the summer of 2022.
5	Bottom Dissolved Oxygen	N/A 2019-2023	N/A	Bottom dissolved oxygen shows no hypoxia risk. If dissolved oxygen becomes too low, many organisms could become stressed or die.
6	Ocean Acidification Risk	N/A 2019-2023	N/A	The region of ocean acidification concern is largest during the summer of 2022. Ocean acidification is of particular concern to calcifying organisms, such as squid and sea scallops.
7	Wind Speed	Increasing Texas Tower Buoy Spring 1991-2022	Dependent on buoy and season (See full report)	Wind speed can influence ocean mixing, bringing warmer waters deeper and cooler nutrient rich waters shallower. Wind speed is also important to boaters. The number of days where wind speeds would trigger a small craft advisory show long term trends only during spring at the most offshore buoy.
8	Stratification	No Trend 1975-2022	Above average during Winter Average during Spring, Summer, Fall	Stratification is usually highest in the summer and lowest in the winter. When the water column is stratified it can prevent mixing, limiting the distribution of nutrients and oxygen. Stratification shows no significant long term trends in any season.
9	Hudson River Flow	Increasing Green Island 1947-2022	Above Average	The Hudson River is a source of freshwater to the New York Bight potentially affecting stratification and contributing nutrients. Hudson River flow at Green Island shows an increasing trend. The timeseries of Hudson River flow at the Narrows is too short to determine any long term trends.
10	Salinity
	Surface	No Trends	Average during Winter, Spring Above average during Summer, Fall	Ocean salinity can tell us about the presence of waters from different regions. For example, relatively salty water may indicate an increasing contribution of waters from the Slope Sea to the east, while very fresh water could indicate increasing Hudson River Input. Bottom salinity in the summer shows an increasing (getting saltier) long term trend.
	Bottom	Increasing Summer Only	Average during Winter, Spring Above average during Summer, Fall
11	Global Carbon Dioxide	Increasing 1722-2022	Above Average	Global atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to increase.
12	Surface 20°C Isotherm	N/A 1982-2023	N/A	Surface 20°C isotherm continues to move northward in summer and autumn.
13	Lobster Thermal Habitat	No trend 1993-2023	Average	No long or short term trends are present in the percentage of New York Bight seafloor thermally inhospitable to lobster.
14	Number of Large Storms	No Trend 1950-2022	Average	No trends are present in large storm indicators.

Due to ship and staffing challenges the 2023 Spring NOAA NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center) bottom trawl survey was cut short and data for New York Bight Region was not obtained. Our biological indicators have a new data point for Fall 2022 but not for Spring 2023. Monthly mean chlorophyll is now reported from data from the MODIS Terra satellite mission, which better captures the spring bloom. A glider based subsurface chlorophyll maximum indicator, which will help draw a more complete picture of primary production within the NYB, is under development and will be included in subsequent reports (see 2023 Annual Report for more detail). Seawolf sampling has allowed for a finer scale seasonal analysis of zooplankton abundances, with the spring of 2021 standing out as a time of increased Calanus finmarchicus and Centropages typicus. While Calanus finmarchicus abundance remains high in the spring of 2022, Centropages typicus abundance greatly decreases. Warming waters are having an impact on marine life, with 2023 showing the highest autumn levels of black sea bass biomass since the start of the NOAA trawl, as well as the highest autumn temperature preference of the fish community in fall 2022.

	Indicator	Long Term	Short Term	Summary
15	Chlorophyll	No Trend 2001-2023	Above average during July Average during Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec Below average during Apr, Aug	Chlorophyll is used as an indicator of the presence of phytoplankton, very small marine plants at the base of the food chain. No significiant long term trends are present in surface chlorophyll.
16	Calanus finmarchicus	No Trend 1977-2021	Average	Calanus finmarchicus is an important prey species for many marine organisms including mammals such as right whales. No significant long term trends are present in Calanus finmarchicus abundance.
17	Centropages typicus	No Trend 1977-2021	Average	Centropages typicus is an important prey species for many marine organisms. No significant long term trends are present in Centropages typicus abundance.
18	Copepod Size Index	No Trend 1977-2021	Below Averge	An increase in abundance of large copepods, such as C. finmarchicus, along with a decrease in abundance of smaller species would decrease this ratio. No significant long term trends are present in copepod size index.
19	American Lobster	↓ 1963-2022	Below average during Spring, Fall	American Lobster biomass has decreased in the autumn.
20	Jonah Crab	No Trend 1972-2022	Average during Spring Above average during Fall	Jonah Crab biomass has decreased in the spring, but increased in the fall.
21	Longfin Squid	No Trend 1972-2022	Average during Spring Above average during Fall	Longfin Squid biomass has decreased in the spring, but increased in the autumn.
22	Shortfin Squid	↑ 1972-2022	Above average during Spring Average during Fall	Shortfin Squid biomass has increased during the spring.
23	Forage Species Biomass	No Trend 1972-2022	Average during Spring Above average during Fall	Forage species biomass has increased in the short term during the autumn.
24	Aggregate Feeding Groups	No Trend Decreasing 1972-2022	Average during Spring and Fall Benthos, Benthivore, Planktivore, and Spring Piscivore Above average during Fall Piscivore	Long term increases are seen in Benthos and Planktivores in the autumn. Long term decreases are seen in Piscivores in the autumn.
25	Total Trawl Biomass	Decreasing 1963-2022	Average during Spring, Fall	Total trawl biomass has decreased during the autumn.
26	Black Sea Bass	Increasing 1963-2022	Above Average during Spring, Fall	Black Sea Bass biomass has decreased during the autumn.
27	Summer Flounder	↑ 1963-2022	Average during Spring Above average during Fall	Summer Flounder biomass is increasing in the long term in both the spring and fall, and in the short term in the fall.
28	Ratio Northern to Southern Species	Decreasing 1963-2022	Average during Spring Below average during Fall	The ratio of northern to southern species can tell us if species are shifting their ranges in response to environmental factors. For example an increase in southern species might happen as waters warm. This ratio has decreased in the autumn.
29	Ratio Benthic to Pelagic Species	Decreasing 1963-2022	Above average during Spring Below average during Fall	The ratio of benthic to pelagic species has decreased in the autumn in the long term.
30	Fish Species Richness	Increasing 1963-2022	Average during Spring Above average during Fall	Fish species richness has increased in the long term in both the spring and fall.
31	Average Trophic Level of Fish Community	Increasing 1963-2022	Above average during Spring Average during Fall	The average trophic level of the fish community has decreased in the fall.
32	Temperature Preference of Fish Community	Increasing 1963-2022	Above average during Spring, Fall	The temperature preference of the fish community has increased in the long term in both spring and fall seasons.

The population of Long Island, while increasing over the long term, has decreased slightly from a peak in 2020. This population is vulnerable to sea level rise, which is evident from tide gauge records at both the eastern and western edges of the island. Recreational fishing has increased, but many fishers may be releasing their catch as this increase in effort is coupled with a decrease in recreational fish harvest and an increase in fish released alive. Short term trends in recreational fishing are difficult to determine as portions of the Marine Recreational Information Program were suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID19 pandemic, and data from those years may be incomplete.

	Indicator	Long Term	Short Term	Summary
33	Commercial Harvest	Decreasing 1950-2022	Below Average	The commercial harvest has decreased in the long term.
34	Commercial Harvest USD	Increasing 1950-2022	Average	The commercial landings value has increased over time.
35	Recreational Harvest	Decreasing 1981-2023	Average	Recreational harvest has decreased in the long term, while the number of fish released has increased.
36	Recreational Effort	Increasing 1981-2023	Average	Recreational effort has increased in the long term.
37	Vessel Density	Increasing 2006-2023	Above Average	The number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at the port of New York and New Jersey have increased.
38	Human Population	Increasing 1970-2022	Above Average	The population of Long Island has increased in the long term, but has fallen recently from a peak in 2020.
39	Sea Level Rise	Increasing 1947-2023 M 1932-2023 SH	Above Average Montauk Sandy Hook	Sea level continues to rise along both the western and eastern coasts of Long Island.

Graphic showing the 5 years of ocean observations with illustrations

Links to Full Reports

Indicators Reports- Annual Updates

2020 Indicator Development and Selection (PDF)

2021 Indicator Development and Selection (PDF)

2022 Indicator Development and Selection (PDF)

2023 Indicator Development and Selection (PDF)

Annual Monitoring Reports

2018-2019 Annual Monitoring Report for Indicators of Ocean Health (PDF)

2020 Annual Monitoring Report for Indicators of Ocean Health (PDF)

2021 Annual Monitoring Report for Indicators of Ocean Health (PDF)

2022 Annual Monitoring Report for Indicators of Ocean Health (PDF)

2023 Annual Monitoring Report for Indicators of Ocean Health (PDF)

References

Gawarkiewicz, G., Fratantoni, P., Bahr, F., & Ellertson, A. (2022). Increasing frequency of mid depth Salinity Maximum Intrusions in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC018233. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018233

Silver, A., Gangopadhyay, A., Gawarkiewicz, G., Fratantoni, P., & Clark, J. (2023). Increased gulf stream warm core ring formations contributes to an observed increase in salinity maximum intrusions on the Northeast Shelf. Scientific Reports 13, 7538. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34494-0

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Indicators of Ocean Health

Background

Indicators of Ocean Health

Annual Monitoring

SoMAS staff and students working on the Indicators of Ocean Health project.

Indicators at a Glance

Links to Full Reports

Indicators Reports- Annual Updates

Annual Monitoring Reports

References

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Indicators of Ocean Health

Background

Indicators of Ocean Health

Annual Monitoring

SoMAS staff and students working on the Indicators of Ocean Health project.

Indicators at a Glance

Physical and Chemical Indicators

Biological Indicators

Human Populations Indicators

Links to Full Reports

Indicators Reports- Annual Updates

Annual Monitoring Reports

References