NOAA Polyline Shapefile - ROV transect points, US Caribbean - North East Reserve, Puerto Rico - M-I907-NF-12 (2012), UTM 20N NAD83 (NCEI Accession 0131856)

This shapefile denotes the transect points of the underwater video and photos that were collected by NOAA scientists using a Spectrum Phantom S2 ROV (remotely operated vehicle). Photos and/or video were collected between 4/08/2012 to 4/20/2012 along transects from the North East Reserve, Puerto Rico in the U.S. Caribbean. These photos and videos will be manually classified into different habitat classes, and integrated with the abiotic data collected by the acoustic sonar (sound navigation and ranging) systems to develop a benthic habitat map for the U.S. Caribbean. Habitat maps describe the location of habitat features (in relation to the shoreline), their physical composition and the types of organisms that colonize them. Fundamentally, habitat maps provide critical information about the extent, health and composition of marine resources, which is vital for communicating information about the distribution and abundance of species to resource managers, scientists and the public. Habitat maps also support an increasing number of landscape ecology studies, as well as the process of marine spatial planning, including the design and evaluation of marine protected areas (MPAs).