Is 2.5 Million Data Points Enough? Lessons Learned from the Nature Conservancy's Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecoregional Assessment

The Nature Conservancy uses science-based assessments to set its conservation priorities and to inform management decisions in service of sustaining coastal and marine ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Our most recently completed assessment, the Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecoregional Assessment, synthesized information on biology, oceanography, chemistry, and geology from the northern limit of the Gulf of Maine in Canadian waters to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and extended seaward to the foot of the continental slope (~8200 feet). The study area includes the shorelines of 11 states and two provinces. Characteristic habitats and species representing the biodiversity and ecological functions of the Northwest Atlantic region were selected from the following categories: coastal and estuarine habitats, nearshore shellfish, shorebirds and seabirds, benthic habitats, diadromous fish, demersal fish, small and large pelagic fish, cetaceans, and sea turtles. Regional scale data and information were collected and integrated for the first time, providing a greater understanding of the interrelated biological diversity of the region and a clearer picture of the current condition of its natural areas and the challenges to their continued persistence. The peer reviewed project results were made accessible to partners and the general public through an online web mapping tool, web mapping service, and downloadable reports and data.  The Assessment is now being used by state and federal agencies and ocean resource stakeholders inform decisions regarding specific development projects, and to stimulate and guide decisions on conservation priorities and actions. In this presentation, we will review the techniques used to discover and obtain datasets for this assessment, review the challenges and rewards of spatial data analysis across a very large study area, and how subsequent data collection and analysis has used the foundation of the Assessment to provide new tools now being used to support permitting decisions and coastal and marine spatial planning initiatives.