Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program: Sightings of Marine Species of Interest during Towed-diver Surveys of the U.S. Pacific Reefs from 2000 to 2017

The presence data described here include "off transect" sightings of marine species of interest observed during fish towed-diver surveys conducted by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD)--formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division--as part of the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP). These underwater surveys were conducted across coral reef habitats of the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas from 2000 to 2017. Presence data for marine species observed outside the fish towed-diver's transect were recorded, including the taxon name - generally to species level, the number observed, and in most cases the size in centimeters. Marine species observed include sea turtles, dolphins, eels, rays, seals, as well as a number of fish species that were considered to be species of interest, such as the humphead wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, most reef sharks, and species of large grouper. While not included in this dataset, the towed-diver method was primarily used by ESD to survey large-bodied (>50 cm) fishes within the towed-diver transect and to assess the reef habitat. This dataset also includes fish species of interest observed inside the transect area, but where those were less than 50 cm in total length (and therefore not recorded with the large-bodied fish towed-diver survey data).

Generally, the towed-diver method involves towing a pair of SCUBA divers--one benthic and one fish--behind a small boat for 50 minutes, approximately following the ~15-m depth contour and covering a linear distance of about 2 kilometers per survey. Each diver was equipped with a towboard and attempted to maintain position ~1 meter above the surface of the reef for the duration of the survey. A complete towed-diver survey includes ten 5-minute segments, with visual observations recorded by 5-minute segment. Sightings of marine species included in this dataset were also recorded by the 5-min segment in which the species was observed.

The Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP), established by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) and supported by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), was tasked with documenting and understanding the status and trends of coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. Pacific Islands Region. Pacific RAMP involved interdisciplinary monitoring of oceanographic conditions and biological surveys of organisms associated with hard-bottom habitats in the 0-30 m depth range and aimed to support integrated, consistent and comparable monitoring of coral reef systems. RAMP missions were conducted in each Pacific region, including the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas, every 1-3 years.Starting in 2013, Pacific RAMP was incorporated into NOAA's National Coral Reef Monitoring Program.

Record complete as of May 21 2019.

Lino K, Asher J, Ferguson M, Gray A, McCoy K, Timmers M, Vargas-Ãngel B (2018) Ecosystem Sciences Division standard operating procedures: data collection for towed-diver benthic and fish surveys. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818-5007. Pacific Islands Fish. Sci. Cent. Admin. Rep. H-18-02, 76 p. https://doi.org/10.25923/59sb-sy51

Becker SL, Brainard RE, Van Houtan KS (2019) Densities and drivers of sea turtle populations across Pacific coral reef ecosystems. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0214972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214972

Raw survey data includes metadata for each survey (where, when, length, duration, depth, reef type, temperature); individual sightings identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible along with a count and size in centimeters of the organism.

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.

Mariana Archipelago

Hawaiian Archipelago including the main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

American Samoa

Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA)

Not applicable

Not applicable

NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) Data Sharing Recommendations, version 9.0 updated August 12, 2015:

CREP welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems. CREP has a very diverse set of field activities that generates large volumes of data using an array of data collection protocols.

The following recommendations are for your consideration as you use this data:

1) Data analyses should take all field exigencies into account. The most effective way to do this would be active collaboration with CREP principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using data generated by CREP, proper acknowledgement of both CREP and the individuals responsible for data collection is expected. Citing the DOI (if available) is preferred, a non-DOI example is listed below.

3) If you collect or generate data for the same study areas, CREP requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

4) Those receiving data are strongly urged to inform the CREP Data Management Team of any errors and discrepancies that are discovered during the course of using these data. They are further urged to bring to the attention of the Team all problems and difficulties encountered in using these data. This information is necessary in order to improve the collections and to facilitate more efficient and economical data processing and retrieval. The users are asked to supply copies of any missing data that may be located, and to provide information as to significant subsets and special aggregations of data that are developed in using the material provided.

Example citation:

"This publication makes use of data products provided by the Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). The analysis and interpretations presented here are solely that of the current authors.”

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

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Please cite PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) when using the data.

Suggested citation:

Ecosystem Sciences Division; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, 2019: Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program: Sightings of Marine Species of Interest during Towed-diver Surveys of the U.S. Pacific Reefs from 2000 to 2017, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/25301.

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PIFSC Oracle database view: VS_FISH_TDS_SIGHTINGS

Observations during each tow were made by divers who have been trained, and met minimum standards in identifying species present at the survey locations and in estimating size of fishes in survey counts. However, all species identifications are made visually, sometimes in situations where an organism of interest is only briefly seen or is seen at some distance from the diver. Current and surface conditions for the support vessel influence the depth contour and accompanying track lines, meaning that divers are not always able to maintain themselves in the target habitat and depth range throughout the course of the survey.

The GPS (Garmin GPSMAP 78/78s) records the position of the boat, not the position of the divers whose actual position was a distance behind the small boat (~30-60 m). Therefore, a layback model was applied (python script in ESRI ArcGIS for Desktop) to more accurately reflect the actual track of the divers.

Depth provided is that of the diver, recorded from a SEABIRD temperature/depth sensor mounted on the towboard.

These data can be used to detect large differences in distributions of certain species, but are not suitable for precise estimations of density. Among other reasons, divers ability to detect species of interest in the vicinity of the towed diver surveys depends on water clarity, presence or absence of physical barriers such as underwater ridges and spurs. In addition, divers' capacity to thoroughly scan surrounding waters for 'off transect' taxa of interest is at least partially related to abundance of fishes within survey transects (and the amount of their attention that divers must focus on that - which was the primary goal of those surveys).

The towed-diver surveys are completed in forereef, backreef, and lagoon habitats. While a tow survey is usually 50 min and comprises ten 5-m segments, only those segments in which a species of interest was observed are included. Only 'normal' tow types are included; calibration tows are excluded.

The same methods of data collection are used during each tow. Regular examination and comparisons of the data are conducted throughout each mission to check for gross diver bias or other discrepancies. However, visual estimates are inherently prone to bias through remaining differences in performance of different observers.

The data is recorded by the diver on a physical data sheet, then transferred to a MS Access database on-board the ship. After the data is entered in the MS Access database, the diver verifies the data against the physical data sheet to ensure accuracy. Following the conclusion of a mission, the data is migrated to an Oracle database by data management personnel. There are several data validation queries in both the MS Access and Oracle databases to flag errors based on pre-defined criteria.

The data is captured in several locations: physical data sheets, MS Access cruise database, and PIFSC Oracle database. The physical data sheets are housed at PIFSC. The MS Access cruise database is regularly backed up by the cruise data manager while at sea. The PIFSC Oracle database is regularly backed up by PIFSC ITS.

Towed-diver survey method for sightings of marine species of interest, employed by the PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) from 2000 to 2017. This underwater survey method was primarily used to assess relatively large areas of reef habitat and to survey for large-bodied fishes; however, the method was also used to gather "off transect" sightings of marine species of interest.