Stewarding Data from Long-Term MPA Monitoring on Behalf of the State of California

Long-term secure stewardship and management of monitoring data encompasses data storage including technology infrastructure, provenance, description, and dissemination. Over the course of the baseline monitoring programs, and in collaboration with our state partners, we have adopted a minimalist approach to data stewardship and management, on the basis that experience and learning would illuminate where and how to invest – strategically and efficiently - in long-term data management. During the past five years there have been many other technology and data driven efforts in California and across the country, from data catalogues and portals, to distributed data networks with remote and cloud storage, to integrated databases with linked web visualizations. We are working to develop a comprehensive, strategic and feasible data management plan for long-term MPA monitoring data. This plan will articulate an approach that leverages existing public and private technology solutions, rather than recommending the build of a new data infrastructure. This approach will emphasize that research programs contributing to long-term monitoring do so with the knowledge that their data will be published for unlimited access by the public and held as a public trust. This planning process will guide building partnerships and data infrastructures to steward long-term data management.