Rebreather fish surveys in American Samoa from 2016-04-15 to 2016-05-05 (NCEI Accession 0157573)

Surveys were conducted in the course of a reef fish survey cruise conducted by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). These data come from surveys conducted using closed-circuit rebreathers. The use of rebreathers is intended to provide data that can be compared against data gathered on open-circuit SCUBA, which is the breathing apparatus typically used by CREP. The survey domain encompassed hard bottom habitats in American Samoa and the stratification included island, reef zone, and depth. Sites were surveyed using the stationary point count (SPC) method to quantify reef fish assemblages. At each survey site, fish biologists entered the water and conducted paired fine-scale (~700 square meters) and high degree of taxonomic resolution Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) survey to assess species diversity, size distribution, and abundance of fishes at the site. At each site, one survey was conducted on open-circuit SCUBA and one on closed-circuit rebreather. Only rebreather survey data is described here. All reef fish and benthic estimate data collected during SPC surveys on SCUBA can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Metadata for SCUBA surveys at these sites is available at https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/34515