National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Towed-diver Surveys of Large-bodied Fishes of American Samoa in 2015

Description

The towed-diver method is used to conduct surveys of large-bodied (> 50 cm) fishes in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). A suitable method for assessing relatively large areas of reef habitat, the method involves towing a pair of SCUBA divers—one benthic and one fish—behind a small boat for approximately 50 min following the ~15-m depth contour and covering about 2–3 km of habitat. Each diver is equipped with a towboard and attempts to maintain a constant elevation above the surface of the reef (~1 m) for the duration of the survey. A complete towed-diver survey is divided into 10 5-min segments, with visual observations recorded by 5-min segment.

The visual estimate data provided in this dataset were collected during towed-diver surveys in which the number, size, and species of all large-bodied fishes observed within a visually estimated 5-m transect on either side of the fish diver and 10 m in front were recorded. The data were collected around the American Samoa as part of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led mission in 2015. These data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
VS_FISH_TDS SAMOA 2015.csv Unknown Observations from towed-diver surveys of coral reef fishes by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) conducted in American Samoa in 2015. Open resource
DR-16-002.pdf Unknown Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program Data Report: Ecological monitoring 2015---reef fishes and benthic habitats of the main Hawaiian Islands, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Pacific Remote Island Areas, and American Samoa. Open resource
PIFSC_H-18-02_2018_SOP_towed-diver.pdf Unknown Ecosystem Sciences Division standard operating procedures: data collection for towed-diver benthic and fish surveys. PIFSC Administrative Report H-18-02. https://doi.org/10.25923/59sb-sy51 Open resource
Citation URL Unknown NOAA PIFSC Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) website, Monitoring Status Reports page. Monitoring status reports provide a periodic review of the coral reef monitoring surveys and research conducted by CREP each year in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands region. Open resource
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords Unknown The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. Open resource
Full Metadata Record Unknown View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. Open resource
NOAA Data Management Plan (DMP) PDF NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. Open resource
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Website Unknown Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage Open resource
Citation URL Unknown Information about the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) on the NOAA Coral Reef Information System website. Open resource
Citation URL Unknown Coral Reef Ecosystem Program website, Fish Ecology and Monitoring Open resource
Citation URL Unknown NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program website, survey methods page, which includes a brief description of the fish towed-diver survey method used since 2000 to survey large-bodied fishes. Open resource

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