National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Stratified Random Surveys (StRS) of Reef Fish, including Benthic Estimate Data of American Samoa since 2015

The stationary point count (SPC) method is used to conduct reef fish surveys 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). The SPC method catalogs the diversity (species richness), abundance (numeric density) and biomass (fish mass per unit area) of diurnally active reef fish assemblages in shallow-water (less than 30 m) hard-bottom habitats. Visual estimates of benthic cover and topographic complexity are also recorded, with benthic organisms grouped into broad functional categories (e.g., 'Hard Coral', 'Macroalgae'). A stratified random sampling (StRS) design is employed to survey the coral reef ecosystems throughout the U.S.-Pacific regions. For all regions, the survey domain encompasses the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats and the stratification includes island, reef zone, and depth, with the exception of the Main Hawaiian Islands that includes habitat structure type as well. Sampling effort is allocated based on strata area.

The reef fish and benthic estimate data provided in this data set were collected during SPC surveys as part of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) led NCRMP missions around American Samoa in 2015, 2018, and 2023. Additionally, data collected as part of a PIFSC-funded Reef Fish Survey cruise in American Samoa in 2016 are included as these data are funded separately from but are complementary to the NCRMP-funded data.  During the 2016 cruise, some sites were surveyed using both open-circuit SCUBA (OC) and closed-circuit rebreather (CCR), as part of an ongoing assessment of sources of bias in survey count relating to divers' presence. The CCR data is archived separately.

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Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce