Other Reef Fish Survey Data

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. Standardized reef fish surveys have been conducted in the Gulf of Mexico since 1982. However, special surveys have been conducted since 1979 to evaluate reef fish sampling gear and/or expand surveys to collect additional information. In 1979, a gear evaluation survey was conducted. Additional experimental surveys were conducted in 2005 for deepwater sampling, in 2007 for sampling of oil platforms, and in 2014-2015 for evaluation of alternative camera systems. In 2009, cooperative sampling of the west Florida shelf was conducted, and in 2011 sampling was expanded in with Congressional funding provided as a response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

To evaluate reef fish sampling gear and/or provide abundance and distribution information on Gulf of Mexico reef fish for use in regional stock assessments.

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There are not restrictions or legal prerequisites for accessing this data.

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Validation routines are applied during data entry to ensure the integrity of data collected. Data validation routines are also applied as data are migrated into the centralized data management system.