Benthic Imagery from the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area (HFMA)

Photoquadrat benthic images were collected within the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area (HFMA) in West Maui by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD; formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) for quantifying benthic composition.

This metadata record is for the source imagery of the benthic cover data produced using CoralNet which is part of a separate accession and metadata record (see 'Related Items' is below, link: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/30951). The images can be linked to the benthic cover by site number in each image filename (file naming convention for each photo/image is KA[YEAR][MONTH]_[SURVEY#]_[GenericImageName]);the sites are described in the site metadata file provided. All data are accessible via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

Benthic cover (%) was extracted from photoquadrats where 25 photographs were taken at 1m intervals along a 30-m long transect. The resulting imagery at each site was analyzed using a web-based annotation tool called CoralNet where the benthic composition was defined for 15 points per photoquadrat.

In 2009, the state of Hawaii established the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area (HFMA) in West Maui. Fishing for herbivores (parrotfishes, surgeonfishes, chubs, sea urchins) is prohibited, as the goal is to use this form of marine management to promote ecosystem resilience of coral reefs by naturally maintaining macroalgae at low levels to prevent it from dominating over corals. The data described herein are part of an ongoing monitoring program used to assess changes in fish and benthic assemblages since the HFMA was implemented.

The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) has provided support for ESD staff to assist the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) staff with maintaining long-term biological monitoring of the HFMA.

Raw data include ~25 benthic photographs per survey site. The file naming convention for each photo/image is KA-[YEAR]-[MONTH]-[SITE]-[GenericImageName] (e.g., KA2103A01IMG_7933.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.

Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area, Maui

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NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) Data Sharing Recommendations, version 9.0 updated August 12, 2015:

ESD welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems. ESD 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 ESD principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using data generated by ESD, proper acknowledgement of both ESD 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, ESD requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

4) Those receiving data are strongly urged to inform the ESD 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 NOAA Fisheries, Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) when using the data.

Example:

Ecosystem Sciences Division; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2021). Benthic Imagery from the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area (HFMA), https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/36152.

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Data are from haphazardly located surveys and are believed to be highly representative.

Benthic cover estimates derived from analysis of photographs are dependent on image quality, which was generally good as photographs were taken with a high resolution (8-20.2 MP) digital camera from 1 m above the reef substrate in generally clear water. Image quality is almost always more than sufficient for there to be high confidence in the accuracy of identification of benthic genera and functional groups by trained analysts.

The survey sites were selected using a haphazard process based on available habitat and bathymetric habitats.

Survey methods were consistent across all sites.

The photos are reviewed by the diver for accuracy and usability.

The images reside on a file server maintained and regularly backed up by PIFSC ITS.

The haphazard sampling design and benthic photoquadrat survey methodology has been employed by the NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) from 2008 to 2021. Benthic imagery is collected at haphazardly selected sites. These photos are color-corrected (if necessary) prior to analysis. The data management team also uses an optical validation script to rename photos and enforce several validation checks.