Evaluation Framework for Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Restoration
Implementing Organization
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; US Department of the Interior
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$2,091,562
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)
Funding Program
Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA
Details
Project Category
Science
Project Actions
Monitoring and Observations
Targeted Resources
Other
Project Description
The project will develop a feasible and cost-effective framework to evaluate the cumulative outcomes of Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) restoration projects for marine mammals and sea turtles in the Open Ocean Restoration Area. This will be done using a Structured Decision Making (SDM) process that incorporates expert elicitation techniques to quantify the benefits of Open Ocean restoration actions. The project will first compile existing data from marine mammal and sea turtle Open Ocean restoration projects, as well as population assessments, trends and abundance information, threat/stressor data, and environmental driver data. Compiling this data across all marine mammal and sea turtle activities will allow for the development of objectives and performance measures to evaluate restoration activities. The outcome of the first task will be an initial evaluation framework. The second task will include the SDM facilitator and technical team working through each portion of the framework, using appropriate tools. This step may involve the use of formal mathematical modeling and data quantification, where data are available, and expert elicitation will be employed, when data are not sufficient for analysis and quantification. The result of this analysis will be an initial evaluation of the benefits of Open Ocean TIG restoration. The third and final step of the project will be identifying the key uncertainties in the mathematical models used in the evaluation framework and determining whether reducing these uncertainties will affect recommendations for future restoration actions. Ultimately, the proj...click on "More Info" link below
Contact
Julia Goss(301) 427-8639
julia.goss@noaa.gov
Project Website
None
For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/