Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program: Rapid Ecological Assessments of Fish Belt Transect Surveys (BLT) at Coral Reef Sites across the Pacific Ocean from 2000 to 2009

Belt transects (BLT) is one of the non-invasive underwater-survey methods to enumerate the diverse components of diurnally active shallow-water reef fish assemblages. At each REA survey sites, BLT fish surveys are conducted along 3 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines to quantify relatively small-bodied and abundant fishes. A pair of scuba diver-observers conducts parallel swims along the transect lines, recording size-class specific counts of all fishes encountered, to species-level where possible, within visually estimated but defined belt widths: 4 m wide for fishes > 20 cm TL (100 m2 area) on the initial swim-out, and 2 m wide for fishes < 20 cm TL (50 m2 area) on the subsequent swim back. Transects lines are typically set at depths of 10-15 m. Reef ledges and holes are visually searched. Stations are completed on all sides of the island/atoll, weather and sea conditions permitting. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

Reef fish and benthic estimate data collected during BLT surveys can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

The Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP), established by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) and supported by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), is tasked with documenting and understanding the status and trends of coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. Pacific. Pacific RAMP involves interdisciplinary monitoring of oceanographic conditions and biological surveys of organisms associated with shallow water hard-bottomed habitats (typically 10-15m, always <30 m deep). Regions are surveyed on a biennial cycle and aims to support integrated, consistent and comparable monitoring of coral reefs across all U.S.-affiliated regions.

Updated 4/20/2020: added OBIS data portal.

Raw survey data includes metadata for each survey (where, when, who, area); site characteristics (depth, reef type); individual reef fish observations identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (usually species) including size, count, and observation type; and parameters needed to calculate biomass and density.

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.

American Samoa

Hawaiian Archipelago

Mariana Archipelago

Pacific Remote Island Areas

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.

None

Please cite NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) when using the data.

Suggested citation:

Coral Reef Ecosystem Program; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2016). Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program: Rapid Ecological Assessments of Fish Belt Transect Surveys (BLT) at Coral Reef Sites across the Pacific Ocean from 2000 to 2009. NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/5565.

None

None

PIFSC Oracle database view: V0_FISH_REA

Observations at each site 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 a fish is only briefly seen.

The rep is the basic survey unit; however, the data are pooled to site level. Site level is the quantification limit.

Only shallow water hard-bottom habitats are surveyed (typically 10-15 meter deep, but some sites shallower, particularly in lagoon and backreef habitats. Sites rarely deeper than 20m). The survey sites were haphazardly selected during a period where reliable habitat and bathymetric maps were largely not available. Although efforts are made to include broad spatial coverage of surveys at each island, weather conditions and other environmental constraints prevented the team from surveying exposed reef areas at some locations and times.

The same methods of data collection are used at each surveyed site, and periodic examination of the data is conducted throughout each mission to check for diver bias or other discrepancies.

Observations, including species identification and sizing, are periodically checked during expeditions for consistency between divers. Data entry is usually conducted on the same day as the survey. All data has been run through quality control checks by the data management team before the data were migrated to the Oracle database. Given the size of the data set, there remains some possibility of typographical or other errors.

NOAA IRC and NOAA Fisheries ITS resources and assets.

REQUIRED