Shallow-Water Benthic Habitats of Southwest Puerto Rico: Accuracy Assessment Site Locations

Shallow-water (<30m) benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of two areas in Southwest Puerto Rico (PR), including the Guanica Bay/La Parguera region on the south coast and the Belvedere reserve on the west coast, were mapped and characterized using visual interpretation of optical and acoustic remotely sensed imagery. The objective was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of the region’s coral reef ecosystem. These maps will be used to support marine resource management and conservation in the Commonwealth. In addition, the maps will enable change detection in an assessment of the effectiveness of restoration activities on the condition of adjacent coral reef ecosystems. The data contained in this shapefile denote the location of accuracy assessment (AA) sites, which were explored by NOAA field scientists to evaluate the thematic accuracy of the map. In particular, this shapefile includes the location of XXX accuracy assessment sites that were explored either by video drop camera or by snorkel.