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.
Accordingly, the objectives of this project are to: 1.Continue to estimate the impacts of aquarium fish collecting at a wide range of sites. 2.Evaluate the effectiveness of the FRA plan by comparing fish abundances among control, impact and FRA study sites as Act 306 is implemented in 1999. 3.Provide baseline information on natural variability in fish and coral abundance. 4.Document recruitment patterns of several aquarium fish species in order to examine the population-level outcomes of a marine reserve system. 5.Disseminate the results of these studies to coral reef ecosystem managers, the scientific community, and the public.
Resource Description: NODC Accession # 0001467
A. Sampling Design objective: to accurately and efficiently monitor spatial and temporal variation in fish abundance. The sampling design is focused primarily on detecting change in abundant to moderately abundant reef fish across all 24 study sites sampled on a bimonthly basis. The simple, low-replicate design minimizes site survey time while maximizing repeated surveying of sites to obtain estimates of temporal variation in adult and juvenile abundance.
Design of transect layout used at permanent transects. Two 60 m neutral gray transect lines are positioned along six permanent stainless-steel eyebolts. Divers survey four 25 m transects separated by 10 m buffer areas between replicates.
B. Survey Protocol
Transects are located by differential GPS. Fish densities of all observed species are estimated by visual strip transect search along each permanent transect line. Two pairs of divers survey the lines, each pair searching two of the 25 m lines. The search of each line consists of two divers, swimming side-by-side on each side of the line, surveying a column 2 m wide. On the outward-bound leg, larger planktivores and wide-ranging fishes within 4 m of the bottom are recorded. On the return leg, fishes closely associated with the bottom, juveniles, and fishes hiding in cracks and crevices are recorded. Each site is scheduled to be surveyed bi-monthly, weather permitting, for a total of six surveys per year.
II. Substrate Monitoring
In addition to the fishes, our program is monitoring the coral reef and associated algae and invertebrates to assess coupled changes between the fishes and their habitat. We use video transecting methods to obtain estimates of abundance of these parameters. Using a digital Sony DCR-TRV900 we swim the length of the transect at a constant distance from the bottom. In the laboratory, individuals frames are captured using a Canopus DVRex-M1 and archived for future use. We use Dr. Phil Dustan's program PointCount to analyzed the images and derive abundance estimates of coral, algae, macro-invertebrates and additional habitat parameters. Data are entered and maintained in a state-wide, common-format, relational database system.
Note, all tables in the database were dumped into MS 97-2000 Excel files with same name (subdirectory /excel) from which ASCII CSV files were obtained (subdirectory /csv). Table Substrates had to be broken into sequentially numbered pieces due to the large size.
Tables DiveMaster and Locations were not available in this relational database but are crucial for understanding the locations and dates. Thus these were acquired from NODC Accession 0000938. Explicit dates for the 2003 surveys can be found in ../../data/misc/progress.txt
Table: DiveMaster Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- Survey representative dive number for data collection Date date of survey as dd/mm/yy Time time of dive, 00:00 - 23:59 HST SuveryN Survey sequence number (a single sequence represents each of the 26 sites being surveyed back to back)
Table: Location Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- Location number corresponding to monitoring sites throughout the Hawaiian Islands and nearby atolls....includes CRAMP sites Big Island Big Island Site number Study Site descriptive site name (CRAMP compatible) Latitude degrees.minutes.seconds Longitude degrees.minutes.seconds Island descriptive name of island status degree of management MLCD: Marine Life Conservation District NAR: Natural Area Reserve FMA: Fisheries Management Area (no fishing)
Table: Species Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- TaxonID code for taxon; table key Type descriptive, general taxonomic group Family taxonomic family TaxonName descriptive scientific name Synonym descriptive Hawaiian Name descriptive Common Name descriptive Trophic descriptive status code: A: collected by aquarium collectors A1: top 10 aquarium collector fishes blank: ?
Table: Substrate Codes Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- ID Name Link to Table Substrates data Code code of ID Name from PointCount Substrate options: substrate or Non-Substrate (filter) Coral options: Coral or Non-Coral (live coral filter)
Table: Substrates (PointCount data management) Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- Transect transect number Quadrat frame number (randomly selected from all frames) Location see Parameter "Big Island" in Locations Table Station unconfirmed Frame No video frame number used for PointCount Image Date date on image, ignore (not correct) ID Name see table Substrate Codes ID Code PointCount ID Code for ID Name Point PointCount number X PointCount parameter Y PointCount parameter Intensity PointCount parameter Red PointCount parameter Green PointCount parameter Blue PointCount parameter File Name file under ../data/whap2000_Coral_Archive ID Date Date ID given by PointCount Site ID PointCount Site ID Site Code PointCount Site code (ignore) Time Code PointCount Time code (ignore) Institution where PointCount performed User Name PointCount operator, see Observers Habitat ignore WQS ignore Length ignore Depth ignore
Table: Substrates Kapoho (PointCount data management) (see Substrates above)
Table: TransectRuns Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- TransectRunID see RunDetails Survey survey number (dive number for one dive team at one location for one dive) Transect transect number Qlocation Quadrat location Observer initials of observer, see Observers Run/Quadrat run number through transect or quadrat sample
Table: WHAP Transects Depths Field Comment ----- ------------------------------------- ID See RunDetails Site See Locations, parameter Big Island Transect alphabetic transect ID Depth depth in meters Tran2 number code for transect