Measuring indicators of ocean health for an island nation: The ocean health index for Fiji Elizabeth R. Selig a,n , Melanie Frazier b , Jennifer K. O'Leary b,c , Stacy D. Jupiter d , Benjamin S. Halpern b,e,f , Catherine Longo b , Kristin L. Kleisner g , Loraini Sivo h , Marla Ranelletti b a Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Oceans, Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22202, USA b National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA c Hopkins Marine Laboratory, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA d Fiji Country Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, 11 Ma'afu Street, Suva, Fiji e Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California – Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA f Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, UK g Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4 h Fiji Country Program, Conservation International, 3 Ma'afu Street, Suva, Fiji article info Article history: Received 5 June 2014 Received in revised form 6 November 2014 Accepted 14 November 2014 Keywords: Data-limited assessment Fiji Fisheries Ocean health Socio-ecological assessment abstract People depend on the ocean to provide a range of ecosystem services, including sustaining economies and providing nutrition. We demonstrate how a global ocean health index framework can be applied to a data-limited scenario and modified to incorporate the objectives and context of a developing island nation like Fiji. Although these changes did not have a major effect on the total index value, two goals had substantial changes. The artisanal opportunities goal increased from 46 to 92 as a result of changes to the model for Fiji, which looks at the stock status of artisanally-caught species. The lasting special places sub-goal decreased from 96 to 48, due to the use of Fiji-specific data and reference points that allow policymakers to track progress towards national goals. Fiji scored high for the tourism and recreation goal, but low for the production-oriented natural products goal and mariculture sub-goal, which may reflect national values and development priorities. By measuring ocean health across a portfolio of goals and re-calculating scores over time, we can better understand potential trade-offs between goals. Our approach for measuring ocean health in Fiji highlights pathways for improvements and approaches that may help guide other data-limited countries in assessing ocean health. & 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Oceanic island nations like Fiji are highly reliant on healthy oceans for a wide range of benefits to their people. Fiji has a rich, strong cultural relationship with the ocean and has traditionally relied on marine resources for subsistence and livelihoods (Teh et al., 2009). Nationally, approximately 40% of animal protein in the Fijian diet is derived from marine sources (FAOSTAT, 2012). Tourism from vacationers alone generated $574 million USD for the Fijian economy in 2011 (Fiji Bureau of Statistics). Approximately 5–30% of reef tourism revenue in Fiji is connected to marine protected areas (Pascal and Seidl, 2013). However, Fiji's marine environment is recognized to be under threat from increased fishing pressures (Teh et al., 2009), and land-based sources of pollution related to agricultural, forestry, and urban development (Jenkins et al., 2010; Dadhich and Nadaoka, 2012). In response to the need to manage these pressures across sectors, approaches to management in Fiji have increasingly focused on ecosystem-based approaches, recog- nizing not only the interconnected nature of ecological systems (Clarke and Jupiter, 2010), but also the feedback loops that exist between people and linked ridge-to-reef units over which indigen- ous Fijians have customary claims (Ruddle et al., 1992). This shift to a management approach based on coupled socio-ecological systems also more directly addresses the nutritional, cultural and economic importance of the marine environment to Fiji. To address these broad management goals, integrated ecological and socioeconomic assessments of the ocean health of Fijian waters are needed to determine how current status relates to the various goals that contribute to a healthy ocean ecosystem. We developed a Fiji-specific application of an integrated assess- ment framework for determining ocean health. Our assessment utilizes a framework designed to assess ocean health, defined as Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoser Ecosystem Services http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.007 2212-0416/& 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. n Corresponding author. E-mail address: eselig@conservation.org (E.R. Selig). Please cite this article as: Selig, E.R., et al., Measuring indicators of ocean health for an island nation: The ocean health index for Fiji. Ecosystem Services (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.007i Ecosystem Services ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎