Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
20080304
CRED Towed-Diver Fish Biomass Surveys at Tau Island, American Samoa in 2006
database
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pacific-islands/ecosystems/coral-reefs-pacific
Towed-diver surveys (aka. Towboard surveys) are conducted by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) as part of biennial Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruises. These cruises support NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) long-term goals for sustainable management and conservation of coral reef ecosystems. 15 towboard surveys (33.9641 km in length), were conducted at Tau Island in the American Samoa from 9 February - 10 March 2006 as part of RAMP Cruise HI0602.
Towboard surveys are a good method for obtaining a general description of large reef areas, assessing the status of low-density populations of large-bodied reef fish, large-scale disturbances (e.g., bleaching), general distribution and abundance patterns of macro-invertebrates (e.g., COT, giant clams), and for assessing trends in these populations and metrics.
A pair of scuba divers (1 fish and 1 benthic diver) are towed 60 m behind a small survey launch at a speed of 1-2 knots and a depth of approximately 15m. Each survey is 50 min long, covers about 2 km of habitat, and is divided into ten 5-minute survey segments.
The fish diver records, to the lowest possible taxon, all large-bodied reef fishes (>50cmTL) seen within 5m either side and 10m in front of the towboard. Length of each individual is estimated to the nearest cm. The fish towboard is also outfitted with a forward-facing digital video camera to record the survey swath.
The benthic diver records percent cover of coral and macroalgae, estimates benthic habitat type and complexity, and censuses a suite of benthic macroinvertebrates including Crown of Thorns sea stars and sea urchins. The benthic towboard is equipped with a downward-facing digital still camera which images the benthos at 15 second intervals. These images are analyzed for percent cover of coral, algae, and other benthic components.
Both towboards are equipped with SEABIRD SBE-39 temperature/depth sensors set to record at 5 second intervals. Latitude and longitude of each survey track is recorded at 15 second intervals using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver onboard the tow boat.
A layback algorithm is applied to more accurately map the position of the divers with respect to the reef environment. This algorithm calculates the position of the divers based on the position of the tow boat taking into account the length of the tow rope, the depth of the divers, and the curvature of the survey track.
This metadata applies to the fish biomass observations.
Part of a biennial long-term monitoring program to document status and trends in the coral reef ecosystems of the US Pacific Territories.
Data collected: Species level abundance and length information for coral reef fishes >50cm total length.
Data is linked to geographic shapefile via DiveID or SegID.
Abundance and/or biomass data can be provided at the species or family level.
20060302
20060304
Ground condition
asNeeded
-169.5237152
-169.4077949
-14.20247804
-14.28884564
NCEI Geoportal FilterCoRIS_Metadata
CRCP Project
Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP): Biennial monitoring for the U.S. Pacific Islands and Atolls
1221
None
Marine Ecosystem
Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP)
Towed Diver Surveys
Coral Reef
Benthic Habitats
Reef Fishes
American Samoa
Tau Island
HI0602
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus
EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs
EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral reef ecology
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef monitoring and assessment
EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef monitoring and assessment > Reef fish census
CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus
Numeric Data Sets > Biology
ISO 19115 Topic Category
biota
002
None
The United States
American Samoa
Tau Island
CoRIS Place Thesaurus
OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Manu'a Group > Ta'u Island (14S169W0012)
COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > American Samoa > Ta'u Island (14S169W0012)
CoRIS Region
AmSam
Data are available two years following data collection date.
Please cite CRED when using the data. Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Dr. Ivor D Williams
mailing and physical address
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu
HI
96818
USA
808 725-5360
808 725-5429
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
e-mail preferred
Ben Richards and Stephane Charette,Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Sciences Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA
Not applicable
Unclassified
Not applicable
Oracle
Observations were made by the divers who are trained in fish taxonomy. Divers may change from year to year and by location.
The same data collection protocols were used at each island/bank surveyed.
The towboard surveys are completed in forereef, backreef, and lagoon habitats. The minimum spatial resolution of the towboard survey is the 5 minute survey segment which covers approximately 200m. As such, these surveys are appropriate for broad estimates but can not be used for fine scale, site level data analysis.
Although resource grade GPS units were used and a layback model was applied to the survey tracks, the exact survey positions were not physically marked and effort was not made to revisit exact same tracks.
1
Instrument parameters
SeaBird SBE-39 temp/depth recorder
0.3
Instrument parameters
The towboard survey involves a pair of scuba divers who are towed 60 m behind a small boat at a constant speed (~1.5 knots).
The towboard survey is typically 50 min long and covers about 2 km of habitat, depending on the depth profile of the divers. The survey is divided into 5 min segments. During the survey, the fish diver records, to the lowest possible taxon, large fishes observed within a survey swath 5 m to either side of the diver and 10 m in front the diver.
Unknown
0.0001
0.0001
Decimal degrees
World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84)
Geodetic Reference System 80 (GRS80)
6378137
298.2572236
Local surface
1
meters
Explicit depth coordinate included with horizontal coordinates
Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
CRED Data Management Team
mailing and physical address
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu
HI
96818
USA
808 725-5360
808 725-5429
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
e-mail preferred
Offline Data
While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.
XLS (Microsoft Excel worksheet), .csv, .dbf
CDROM, or email
ISO 9660
None if receiving the data online
Contact CRED data management team for information
Contact CRED data management team for information
20200329
20100405
Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
mailing and physical address
NOAA IRC
NMFS/PIFSC/CRED
1845 WASP Blvd., Building 176
Honolulu
HI
96818
USA
808 725-5360
808 725-5429
nmfs.pic.credinfo@noaa.gov
e-mail preferred
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998
20100405040607
None
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20060304
https://www.coris.noaa.gov/metadata/records/html/cred_towboard_fishbiomass_tau_island_2006.html
4676