Micronesia small island developing states (SIDS) have well-established coral-reef and fisheries monitoring programs. The current challenge is to efficiently integrate and analyze these data streams for their perpetual use in management decisions. We propose to build a application programming interface (API, which is an online customized program) that will automate the collection and use of extensive coral-reef and fisheries data streams for conservation, management, and climate mitigation. We began our regional effort to build an online home for our SIDS islands across Micronesia two years ago. The present project would greatly enhance our existing online platform to accommodate data collection, data storage and back-up, data dissemination via credentials, and customized analytics to rapidly assess trends. The combined efforts of our proposal would result in an online, interactive, and intuitive science-to-management learning center where multiple audiences ranging from schools to resources managers can understand the status and trends of essential marine resources. Data collection, research, and trainings would all enhance Micronesia SIDS capacity for individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and many stakeholder audiences such as schools and decision makers. Information about our long-term Micronesia Coral Reef Monitoring (MCRM) program can be found at (https://micronesiareefmonitoring.com/). The research component of our project will develop locally-relevant analytical frameworks that automatically assess several existing management actions and conservation strategies, and are poised to help evaluate the climate change impacts now and into the future. Pressing management that will be automatically evaluated includes marine protected areas, grouper spawning aggregations, harvesting of sea cucumbers, and help identify sources of stress limiting ecological resilience to climate change.
