West Hawaii Aquarium Project (WHAP): fish and substrate data, 1999-2002 (NCEI Accession 0000938)

In response to declines in reef fishes, the Hawaii state legislature created the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area in 1998 to improve fishery resources (Act 306). The West Hawaii Aquarium Project (WHAP) was funded by the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative to monitor to fish populations and quantify the habitats in this region. This dataset consists of an MS Access relational database of all monitoring data from 1999-2002 and image and random point files of benthic habitat survey frames grabbed from video transects.

During initial funding under CRAMP in 1998-99, 23 permanent study sites were established positioned in all of the proposed Fish Replenishment Areas (FRAs) as well as eight sites where fish collecting is know to occur ("impact"), and six managed areas where aquarium fish collection is prohibited (three Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs) and three FMAs or "control"). Initial surveys confirm that aquarium fish collecting impacts are significant but vary along the coastline.