With a focus on the western Pacific, this portal provides ocean data relevant to a range of sectors and applications including tourism, fishing, shipping/boating, coastal inundation, environmental management etc. Designed with a user-friendly interface, the portal entry page features the applications, thereby negating the need for users to have universal knowledge of the types of information that may be relevant to their activity. The primary purpose of the portal is both data discovery, and a means of communicating ocean information.
Environmental conditions and anthropogenic impacts are key influences on ecological processes and associated ecosystem services. Effective management of Tonga’s marine ecosystems therefore depends on accurate and up-to-date knowledge of environmental and anthropogenic variables. Although many types of environmental and anthropogenic data are now available in global layers, they are often inaccessible to end users, particularly in developing countries with limited accessibility and analytical training.