Editor's Note
Welcome to the August-22 Flash news! Lots of news and meeting/workshop updates to keep you busy before the coming OBPS’s workshop.
OBPS welcomes 5 new Ambassadors from around the world and calls for new members of its Steering Group. The Feature stories of this issue should provide you some food for thought, so have a read and let us know what you think there.
Please feel free to send us your contribution (e.g., news, meetings, image, videos, stories) for our Flash news: newsletter@oceanbestpractices.org.
~ Virginie van Dongen-Vogels
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Ocean Practices: OBPS VI workshop coming up this October!
OBPS is pleased to invite you to its 6th OBPS Workshop (5th-19th October 2022). This is a free public event that brings together an inter-generational audience of diverse stakeholders to discuss the development and implementation of best practices and operating practices in a variety of topics, including
- Arctic Best Practices
- Best Practices in the Ocean Decade
- BGC Profile Data
- Blue Resources
- Capacity Development
- Coastal Observations for Under-resourced countries
- Data Interoperability
- Decision Trees
- Deep Sea Observing
- Environmental Plastics – Citizen Science observations
- Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Marine Biodiversity
- Operational Forecasting
- Organizational Co-operation
- Policy and Best Practices
- Seagrass Monitoring
- Time Series Observations and Downstream Data Management
- Transparency and Traceability in ocean observing
This workshop aims to explore multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to developing, adapting, implementing, and sharing best practices and operational procedures in the broader marine community. Overall, the workshop is intended to promote opportunities for collaboration on best practices and strengthen community building.
Please contact Paul van Ruth or visit the workshop webpage for more information or to register your interest in participating in a specific theme.
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Ambassador Program
Rebecca Zitoun
In July 2022, the OBPS launched its Ambassador Programme under its Ocean Practices for the Decade Programme. The Ocean Practices early career Ambassador Programme is a multi-year programme to increase awareness and identify issues and priorities in adapting, implementing, and developing best practices in the ocean science observing community at large. Our five new OBPS Ambassadors, from Canada, India, Italy, Lebanon, and Namibia, play an important role in advocating and promoting the role and relevance of ocean best practices to their peers, their networks, and their regional community. This will strengthen regional capabilities and foster community building.
Our Ambassadors are also an OBPS sounding board to early career researchers around the world, ensuring that the voices and ideas of early career researchers are reflected in our activities and objectives. This programme will thus also help shape the Ocean Practices programme and support the Ocean Decade actions more broadly. The OBPS will continue to be tailored towards the needs of a more diverse ocean practitioner community (see Pearlman et al. 2021). Through this initiative, we connect regions and generations to support sustainable development and scientific exploration of the oceans.
Introducing our early career Ocean Practices Ambassadors:
- Josephine Edwards, Lady Marine Consultancy Firm (Founder), Namibia
- Laura Khatib, Guardians of the Blue (Co-founder), Lebanon
- Sundar Ranganathan, Ocean Observation Systems, NIOT, India
- Talen Rimmer, University of Victoria, Canada
- Carlotta Santolini, IUSS Pavia University of Applied Sciences, Italy
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Call for new OBPS Steering Group Members
The Ocean Best Practices System (OBPS) is looking for three new and enthusiastic members to join its Steering Group. The steering group guides the OBPS strategy and implementation of its global IOC project. Nominations from all countries are welcome, either self-nomination or recommendation of others, for a three-year term. The Steering Group has one in-person meeting annually and virtual monthly meetings. There is also an annual workshop. The term will start on the 1st January 2023.
Steering Group members are expected to take active ownership of some element of the OBPS work, consistent with their expertise and interest, and have the support of their institution for their role. For more details and opportunities, please see our website at https://www.oceanbestpractices.org/.
You may apply by sending an email including your CV, and expressing interest and your ideas on where you could contribute to: info@oceanbestpractices.org. The call will close on the 15th of September 2022 and selection will be made by the 5th of October 2022
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The OBPS' SG welcome the IOC support
The importance of best practices in achieving equity was highlighted in the recent Intergovernmental Ocean Commission (IOC) state of the ocean report: "One important way of replicating success in ocean sciences is to use the Ocean Best Practices, a library of methods and a training resource. The corresponding repository, covering physical, chemical and biological oceanography, with a focus on observation as well as many other related applications, is increasingly accessed by various users".
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From the Repository - OBPS You Tube Channel
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The OBPS Repository has a new OBPS You Tube channel where you can watch recorded ocean Best Practice videos.
As from our last issue, the OBPS Repository can link various means to communicate your best practices. Videos, like the new STAVIRO Best Practice video, provides a great visual support to effectively communicate your ocean best practices to the community.
Please send us an email if you wish to submit your videos related to your ocean Best Practices.
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What's in a name?
Rachel Przeslawski & Chidong Zhang (NOAA)
The ocean community is increasingly hearing about ‘best practices’, and the term is rife in other disciplines as well. However, is this really the best term to use? Does it accurately reflect what we mean when we use it? Here, we briefly present both arguments as a brief debate.
For the term ‘best practices’:
There are an increasing number of programs, institutions, and individuals using this term. Indeed, you’re reading a newsletter from the Ocean Best Practices Systems program! Of course, the popularity of a term is insufficient reason to continue using it. Rather, the increasing prevalence of the term in ocean research and applications reflects a broad understanding of what ‘best practices’ are, and the term itself demands a definition by its users. This definition has been adopted by the OBPS community as “a methodology that has repeatedly produced superior results relative to other methodologies with the same objective; to be fully elevated to a best practice, a promising method will have been adopted and employed by multiple organizations” (Pearlman et al. 2021, Hörstmann et al. 2021) . This definition is inclusive of continued improvement through revisions, but it still allows a term to indicate gold standards of high-quality methods that are widely adopted by the community (i.e., best practices).
Against the term ‘best practices’:
The word ‘best’ implies a superlative with no room for improvement, and people are gradually regarding this term as dated. For example, the new United Decade program associated with the OBPS is called ‘Ocean Practices’ with a deliberate omission of the word ‘best’ to foster inclusivity for all standards, methods, and guidelines. If conditioned correctly (see point above), the term is not bad. It can refer to the best of what we know now, but it forces us to repeatedly run into “better than the best”, hence diminishing the meaning of “best”. There are alternative terms that are more suited to the definition above (e.g., recommended, most desirable, endorsed, standard). The main reasons for sticking with this dated term are inertia, adherence to mainstream thinking, and reluctance to change… plus we all want to be the best!
We welcome ideas from the community as whether and how we should create a progressive term that leaves plenty of room for improvement of all practices. Please email newsletter@oceanbestpractices.org with your thoughts!
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Maturity levels of Best Practices
Jay Pearlman
The H2020 JERICO-S3 project, focusing on ocean observing across Europe, recognizes the importance of best practices to promote interoperability and the use of consistent methods to support uptake of our information about the ocean. In a recent effort focused on mature observing systems and their best practices (C. Montovani, et. al – currently in draft), the question came up of what a mature best practice is. For space (and other) hardware, the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) are often cited and have nine levels to describe maturity from inception to operational hardware. The Framework for Ocean Observing used a three-level scale across the range of maturities. OBPS also uses a three-level scale: Mature: (TRL 7-9); Pilot or Demonstrated: (TRL 4-6); Concept: (TRL 1-3).
We suggest that for operational system best practices, a more refined scale at the higher TRL levels is needed. We also believe that adaptation for applications of methods is necessary. For example, at a level 4 out of 5, “broadly adopted”, practices are widely adopted by multiple institutions and should also have metrics and controls for monitoring, implementation and outcomes. For mature operational practices (level 5), practices have all the attributes of level 4 and include formal diagnostic tools and feedback loops supporting continuous improvement and optimization. They also would have associated methods for training. A more detailed description will soon be available for community conversation and review.
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The OBPS Steering Group comes from all over the world and works in all its oceans. This image is from our SG Member Cora Hörstman onboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer with the BIOS Station (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science) in the background.
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GOOS BioEco Portal
Last month saw the launch of the BioEco Portal of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS BioEco Portal), an online platform that provides information on the sustained ocean observing programs which deliver information about the health of marine life. Read more about the platform here.
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The European Marine Ocean Data Network (EMODnet) Biology
Joana Beja
EMODnet Biology is a European initiative for marine biodiversity in-situ data established since 2011. For this past decade, it has developed various activities, ranging from data publication to creating marine biological data products and organizing several events with European and non-European organisations. From its inception, EMODnet Biology has ensured it adheres to Best Practices in all aspects of its work, such as the implementation of FAIR principles in data and metadata, the elaboration of guidance on data product creating, including exhaustive documentation and a push to reproducibility.
In 2018, EMODnet Biology, in collaboration with the EMODnet Secretariat, developed a set of definitions and categories to be used for EMODnet products. These can be found in the EMODnet Data Portfolio (2021, page 3) and have been included as reference material in several publications, including the peer-reviewed article on ‘The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet): Visions and Roles of the Gateway to Marine Data in Europe’ (Martín Míguez et al, 2019).
More recently, partners from EMODnet Biology led the chapter ‘Data services in ocean science with a focus on the biology’ included in the new book ‘Ocean science data: Collection, management, networking and services’. This work involved the collaboration of various co-authors from the wider marine biology community.
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Good practices when working at sea: Safety, Respect, and Inclusion
Virginie van Dongen-Vogels
Working remotely onboard oceanographic research vessels, especially for long periods, is a unique experience to carry on direct observations of our wonderful ocean. However, it is not without risks and typically involves tight schedules in a rather confined environment, with the potential development of fatigue. Good working practices at sea often reflect on 'safety' but working with 'respect' and 'inclusion' is as important when working at sea.
This new training video on "Respect at Sea" was recently launched by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to remind anyone working on ocean research vessels of their responsibility to respect each other and promote inclusion in the workplace.
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Best practices for biogeochemical sensor data from the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI): Growing a community of data users to accelerate scientific discovery
Hilary Palevsky, Sophie Clayton, Heather Benway
In summer 2021, the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Biogeochemical Sensor Data Working Group (WG) was established to develop guidelines and best practices for using OOI biogeochemical sensor data in an effort to broaden users and applications of these data and build community capacity to produce analysis-ready data products. The WG kicked off with a three-day virtual workshop in July 2021, and WG members have since been collaborating to draft a guide of best practices with explicit recommendations for end users working with data from four sensor sub-groups: Dissolved oxygen, inorganic carbon parameters, bio-optics, and nitrate. The five chapters of the best practices guide cover background on the OOI arrays and the biogeochemical sensors deployed on them, data QA/QC and data access, and each of the four sensor sub-groups listed above.
In June 2022, current and prospective OOI biogeochemical sensor data users gathered with the WG members at a workshop hosted at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to review and discuss the best practices guide and explore scientific questions that can be explored with these data. Broader engagement of non-WG biogeochemical sensor data users provided an opportunity to “test-drive” the best practices guide prior to the workshop. Small breakout groups had lively and productive discussions, both about the content and utility of the best practices guide and novel scientific research ideas and applications of OOI biogeochemical sensor data, with the hope that these discussions would catalyze new collaborations and projects. Anticipated workshop outcomes will include;
1) The incorporation of revisions needed to finalize the best practices guide for dissemination to the broader community through the Ocean Best Practices System repository; and,
2) A peer-reviewed publication by interested WG members and workshop attendees (e.g., Frontiers in Ocean Observing article) to highlight novel and exciting science opportunities that OOI biogeochemical data and the best practices guide will enable.
For more information on the working group, please visit the working group website.
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MBON session at the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Forum 2022
Frank Muller-Karger
The All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Forum held a Scientific Event in Brasilia (Brazil) last June 2022, in preparation for the Ministerial Event that took place the next month in Washington, DC (USA). The Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) partnered with the OBPS, the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission to hold a virtual side event to advance the co-design of solutions that require biology and ecosystem observations integrated with traditional ocean observing. Emerging technologies now make it possible to incorporate biology and ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) observations as well as Biodiversity Essential Variables (EBV) into surveys and monitoring programs at local and regional scales. Best practices allow for this information to be interoperable, scalable, usable, and implementable by local groups and nations, and across ocean basins.
This session promoted dialogue about local stakeholder needs for, monitoring, information, and capacity development in different parts of the Atlantic. MBON provides a platform for such a community of practice and the MBON Secretariat, hosted by the AIR Centre Earth Observation (EO) Laboratory at Terceira Island-Azores, helps to coordinate, and focus the community of practice on addressing societal problems in the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis.
In this side event, experts and stakeholders reviewed co-design strategies conducted under the MBON and the Marine Life 2030 Programme endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade. This included the MBON Pole to Pole framework for local observations of marine life and biodiversity using a basin-scale framework for interoperability, building on regional elements of the GOOS and guidelines for data flow developed by OBIS and OBPS.
The goal is to better manage ocean uses and satisfy national reporting requirements for targets of Sustainable Development Goals, the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity, and other national and international frameworks. Participants developed the following statement as an outcome of the side event: "The Importance of Marine Life Information for Human Well-Being in the Atlantic"
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~ Aristotle, 4th Century BC Greek Philosopher
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit."
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- SCAR 2022: Antarctica in a Changing World, 1-10 August 2022, online
- 7th International Marine Debris Conference, 18-23 September 2022, Busan, Korea
- IMPAC5 (International Marine Protected Areas Congress) 2022,1-8 September 2022, Vancouver, Canada
- First Round of Regional Workshops for World Ocean Assessment, various locations and dates
- OBPS Workshop VI, October 2022, online
- Ocean Predict Workshop, 15-18 November 2022, Tsukuba, Japan & online
- 6th EcoSummit, 13-17 June 2023, Gold Coast, Australia
Please regularly check the Events section of our webpage for updates.
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