National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Towed-diver Surveys of Large-bodied Fishes of the Hawaiian Archipelago in 2016

The towed-diver method is used to conduct surveys of large-bodied (> 50 cm) fishes 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). A suitable method for assessing relatively large areas of reef habitat, the method involves towing a pair of SCUBA diversâone benthic and one fishâbehind a small boat for approximately 50 min following the ~15-m depth contour and covering about 2â3 km of habitat. Each diver is equipped with a towboard and attempts to maintain a constant elevation above the surface of the reef (~1 m) for the duration of the survey. A complete towed-diver survey is divided into 10 5-min segments, with visual observations recorded by 5-min segment.

The visual estimate data provided in this dataset were collected during towed-diver surveys in which the number, size, and species of all large-bodied fishes observed within a visually estimated 5-m transect on either side of the fish diver and 10 m in front were recorded. The data were collected around the Hawaiian Archipelago as part of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led mission in 2016. These data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

Tags: 743, aquatic habitat, biosphere, central pacific ocean, coastal processes, coral reef conservation program, coral reef ecology, coral reef ecosystem division, coral reef ecosystem program, coral reef studies, coral reefs, corals, country/territory, cred, crep, doc/noaa/nmfs/pifsc, earth science, ecosystem sciences division, fish, fish - coral reef, fish assemblages, fish biomass, fish census, fish species, french frigate shoals (24n166w0001), hawaii, hawaii island, hawaii island (19n155w0003), hawaiian archipelago, hawaiian islands, hawaiian islands (21n157w0027), hi'ialakai, honolulu, in situ biological, kauai, kauai island, kauai island (22n159w0001), kure atoll (28n178w0001), lanai island, lanai island (20n156w0002), linear transect, lisianski island (25n173w0001), main hawaiian islands, marine biology, maui, maui island, maui island (20n156w0004), mhi, molokai island, molokai island (21n157w0001), national coral reef monitoring program, national marine fisheries service, niihau island, niihau island (21n160w0001), nmfs, noaa, north pacific ocean, northwestern hawaiian islands, northwestern hawaiian islands (28n178w0000), numeric data sets, nwhi, ocean basin, oceans, pacific islands fisheries science center, pacific ocean, papahanaumokuakea marine national monument, pearl and hermes reef (27n176w0001), pifsc, reef fish census, reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, species identification, species identification - count, species identification - organism length, survey, survey - biological, survey - swimmer/diver, tds, towboard, towed diver, towed-diver surveys, tows, triennial, u.s. department of commerce, united states of america, us doc, visual estimate, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce