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Abstract
Using GIS-Based Tools to Support Decision Making for Marine ReservesTrack: Ocean, Coastal, and Marine Resources
Author(s): Darcee Killpack, Ben Waltenberger, Cindy Fowler
The Channel Islands-Spatial Support and Analysis Tool (CI-SSAT) was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center and the NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary is involved in a process to develop alternatives for siting marine reserves (e.g., restricted access areas) around the sanctuary area. A group of local stakeholders was formed to use consensus-built criteria and the best available science and socioeconomic information to reach its conclusions.
CI-SSAT was developed with Esri ArcView 3.2 and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 software. CI-SSAT provides the framework to compile and visualize all the spatial data sets crucial to siting a marine reserve. CI-SSAT uses a simple suitability algorithm to compute the probability for potential marine reserves, allowing the working group's participants to assign percentages to each criterion based on different perspectives. The group can then begin to visualize various management options, weight the quantitative and qualitative benefits/costs of various alternatives, and model the impacts of one alternative relative to another. The tool was successfully used in a public forum, and plans are under way to transfer the process and tool to other marine protected areas that are involved in similar community-focused processes.
Darcee Killpack
TPMC
2223 South Hobson Ave.
Charleston, SC 29405 2413
USA
Phone: 843-740-1336
E-mail: Darcee.Killpack@noaa.gov