NOAA Point Shapefile - 100m2 Fish Density of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, United States, R/V Manta, Technical Dive Cruise, 2012, WGS84

The design of this field mission is three fold: (1) to spatially characterize the distribution, abundance and size of both reef fishes and macro invertebrates within and around the waters of the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary, (2) to relate this information to in-situ data collected on associated habitat parameters and (3) to use hydroacoustics technologies for a comprehensive assessment of East and West Bank. This information collected will be used to evaluate the utility of an experimental fishing closure on one of the most pristine reefs under US jurisdiction in the tropical Western Atlantic. Data collected during this mission (pre-closure) will provide baseline information necessary to evaluate closure efficacy and assess whether the closure should become permanent.

1. To design and implement a mobile fisheries sonar survey in concert with multibeam echosounder hydrographic surveys to assess and map fish densities and biomass within and outside proposed management zones.2. To assess distribution of fish densities relative to management and ecological reserve boundaries and other differences that may be associated with management zones and habitat types, particularly as fish distributions relate to movements between habitat types.3. To assess the extent of fish density distributions in comparison with ROV surveys and fish community assessments.

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Contact Chris Taylor @ chris.taylor@noaa.gov;

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Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; Esri ArcGIS 10.1.0.3035

The fish acoustic data is for the East and West Banks for the Flower Garden National Marine Sanctuary. Surveyed predefined areas of the sanctuary in a variety of habitats. The scientific echosounder was calibrated using standard calibrations techniques(FOOTE et. al. 1981). All data was scrutinized and edited for bad data returns. Applied a tracking algorithmic to detect fish in the water column. All data analyses were conducted using Echoview 5.1 software.

Not applicable