31223 Fagamalo: benthic images Data Set Published / External 58564 Benthic Missions Project Completed 2016 In 2010 the village of Fagamalo, Tutuila, American Samoa, designated a no-take Marine Protected Area that sees the protection of 2.25 square kilometers of ocean. Because little is known regarding the status of living marine communities in the area, and at the request of the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, NOAA scientists conducted surveys to assess the status of the benthic communities and establish a baseline against which to compare temporal change. The data described here were collected via belt transect surveys of coral demography (adult and juvenile corals) by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) according to protocols established by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP). In 2015 data were collected at 18 stratified randomly selected sites. These data include photoquadrat benthic images. Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0146681. These photos have been analyzed for benthic cover (documented separately). Data from coral demographic surveys, including 1) an assessment of coral colony density and size-class distribution, 2) an assessment of coral recruitment, and 3) an evaluation of coral colony mortality, disease, and bleaching, were also collected for the selected monitoring sites and are also documented separately by CREP. These data were collected during benthic surveys to establish a comprehensive baseline for benthic composition and coral demographics, and are part of a NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) funded project, entitled: "Coral reef ecosystem monitoring training and capacity building to support improved resource management in American Samoa." An informal report was prepared by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) and submitted to the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR) in 2017. The report includes the data for Fagamalo described here, as well as data collected in April 2016 by the NOAA CREP fish team. "Summary Report of Baseline Surveys for Benthic and Fish Communities in the Fagamalo No-Take Marine Protected Area, American Samoa" https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/coris/library/NOAA/CRCP/NMFS/PIFSC/Projects/1083/Fagamalo_summary_CREP.pdf Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category biota Theme CRCP Project 1083 Theme CRCP Project Coral reef ecosystem monitoring training and capacity building to support improved resource management in American Samoa Theme CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus Visual Images > Habitats Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Baseline studies Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > In Situ Biological Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Benthic biology Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Coral Theme CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Coral Communities Theme NODC DATA TYPES THESAURUS PHOTOQUADRAT IMAGES Theme NODC OBSERVATION TYPES THESAURUS imagery Theme NODC PROJECT NAMES THESAURUS Coral Reef Conservation Program Theme NODC SUBMITTING INSTITUTION NAMES THESAURUS US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center; Ecosystem Sciences Division; Coral Reef Ecosystem Program Theme CRED Theme CREP Theme Coral Reef Ecosystem Division Theme Coral Reef Ecosystem Program Theme Fagamalo Theme PIFSC Theme Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Spatial CoRIS Place Thesaurus COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > Tutuila Island > Fagamalo (14S170W0047) Spatial CoRIS Place Thesaurus OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Tutuila Island > Fagamalo (14S170W0047) Spatial NODC SEA AREA NAMES THESAURUS South Pacific Ocean Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Honolulu HI USA Data Set JPG Files None Planned Image (digital) Raw data include 30 benthic photographs per survey site. Included in the archive package is a list of survey sites, including site id, location (latitude/longitude), and survey date, where photoquads were collected. The file naming convention for each photo/image is [SITE]_[YEAR]_[TRANSECT]_[PHOTO_NUMBER].JPG (for example: TUT-903_2012_A_01.JPG). 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. PIFSC Coral Reef Ecosystem Program and funded by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Digital camera Not applicable Not applicable Data Steward 2015 Person Vargas-Angel, Bernardo bernardo.vargasangel@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2001-463X 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5423 Email preferred Distributor 2016 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI ncei.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact NCEI Contact Information Information for contacts at NCEI. Online Resource Distributor 2015 2016 Person Kanemura, Troy T troy.kanemura@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5422 Email preferred Metadata Contact 2025-11-11 Person Akridge, Michael W michael.akridge@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5483 Metadata Contact 2015 Person DesRochers, Annette M annette.desrochers@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5461 8 am - 5 pm Email preferred Originator 2015 Organization NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program CRCP 1305 East West Highway 10th Floor Silver Spring MD 20910-3281 (301) 713-3155 https://coralreef.noaa.gov Link to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program website Online Resource Funders Originator 2015 Organization Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center PIFSC pifsc.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/02apffz65 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA 808-725-5360 https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage Online Resource 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Point of Contact 2015 Person Vargas-Angel, Bernardo bernardo.vargasangel@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2001-463X 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5423 Email preferred Ground Condition Fagamalo, Tutuila, American Samoa -170.81195363 -170.79879018 -14.28060332 -14.29253127 Fagamalo, Tutuila, American Samoa Range 2015-10-26 2015-11-13 Unclassified 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 Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP), 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, accession #0146681. None Please cite NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) when using the data. Example Cite as: Vargas-Angel, Bernardo; Coral Reef Ecosystem Program; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2016). Coral reef ecosystem marine protected area monitoring in Fagamalo, American Samoa: benthic images collected during belt transect surveys in 2015. Unpublished Dataset. [access date] None None https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0146681 Site Information (Fagamalo 2015).csv List of survey sites, including site id, location (latitude/longitude), and survey date, where photoquads were collected. 2016-05-11T00:00:00 csv (comma-separated values) CSV - Comma Separated Values (Text) 2 K https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0146681 Photoquadrat benthic images collected in 2015 at 18 stratified randomly selected sites (30 photos per site) in Fagamalo via belt transect surveys of coral demography by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP). JPEG JPEG https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0146681 Draft_StRS_coralsurvey_2014.pdf Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Program - Standard Operating Procedures: Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) Benthic Survey Data Collection - latest draft as of March 21, 2016. Refer to the Methodology - Benthic Survey sections only for the survey methodology details, as the other components are not relevant to this particular set of non-RAMP surveys. 2016-03-21T00:00:00 PDF PDF - Adobe Portable Document Format 1746 kb https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/coris/library/NOAA/CRCP/NMFS/PIFSC/Projects/1083/Fagamalo_summary_CREP.pdf Online Resource PDF Summary Report of Baseline Surveys for Benthic and Fish Communities in the Fagamalo No-Take Marine Protected Area, American Samoa, prepared by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) and submitted to the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources (DMWR). https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/cred/corals.php Online Resource PIFSC network/file system: \\picmakai\optical\OPTICAL\AMSM\2015\TUT\REA\BENTHIC\ Handheld GPS units were used to mark site locations. Not applicable Survey transects were appropriately marked to allow direct, site-level temporal comparisons. Complete; photoquads were taken at all sites surveyed. Only forereef, hard bottom habitats were surveyed. Survey methods were consistent across all sites. Benthic images and the file structure are quality controlled by CREP personnel before they are migrated and integrated into CREP's master optical directory on the PIFSC network. Yes Unknown Yes No Unknown NCEI-MD Unknown NOAA IRC and NOAA Fisheries ITS resources and assets. Benthic photographs were collected during belt transect surveys of corals by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) following the same protocol to that established by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP). Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Program – Standard Operating Procedures: Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) Benthic Survey Data Collection - latest draft as of March 21, 2016 1 The survey domain encompassed ~95% of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitat, and was divided into strata based upon depth. Depth categories (binned in meters) of shallow (0-6 m), mid-depth (6-18 m) and deep (18-30 m) were incorporated into the stratification scheme, and allocation of sampling effort was proportional to strata area. Sites were randomly selected within each stratum. At each site, two haphazardly laid, 18-m transects were the focal point of the surveys. Adult coral colonies were surveyed within four (1.0 x 2.5 m) segments: 0-2.5 m (segment 1); 5.0-7.5 m (segment 3); 10.0-12.5 m (segment 5); and 15.0-17.5 m (segment 7). Juvenile coral colonies (< 5 cm diameter) were surveyed within three (1.0 x 1.0 meter) segments along the same transects: 0-1.0 m (segment 1); 5.0-6.0 m (segment 3); and 10.0-11.0 m (segment 5). Survey protocols followed methodologies historically implemented by CREP. Still photographs were collected to record the benthic community composition at predetermined points along the same 2 transect lines with a high-resolution digital camera mounted on a pole. Photographs were taken every 1 m from the 1 m to the 15 m mark. This work generates 30 photographs per site, which are later analyzed by CREP staff and partners using the computer program CoralNet. This analysis is the basis for estimating benthic cover and composition at each site. Person Swanson, Dione W dione.swanson@noaa.gov 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA (808)725-5417 Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Program – Standard Operating Procedures: Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) Benthic Survey Data Collection - latest draft as of March 21, 2016 31621 Data Set Cross Reference 30775 Data Set Cross Reference Coral reef ecosystem marine protected area monitoring in Fagamalo, American Samoa: comprehensive assessment of coral demographics from belt transect surveys in 2015 gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:31223 Annette DesRochers 2016-03-15T19:44:07 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:28 2020-01-13 Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center PIFSC 1845 Wasp Blvd. Honolulu HI 96818 USA 808-725-5300 https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 1001 Public No No 2020-01-13 1 Year 2021-01-13 Raw data include 30 benthic photographs per survey site.