Pacific Reef Fish Surveys: Species, Abundance, and Biomass from 2000 to 2007

NOAA's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program conducted large-area stationary point count surveys of reef fish from 2000 to 2007. The data catalogs species richness, numeric density, and biomass of diurnally active fish assemblages in shallow-water hard-bottom habitats across the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas. Raw survey data includes species-level abundance estimates and is archived at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Modeling reef fish biodiversity trends based on species richness data.
• Analyzing fish biomass and abundance relationships across Pacific sites.
• Assessing the impact of environmental factors on large (>25 cm) and vagile fish species.
• Conducting spatial-temporal comparisons of reef fish assemblages across archipelagos.

Strengths

• Surveys conducted from 2000 to 2007, providing a multi-year time series.
• Standardized method using 5-minute counts within a 20m diameter cylinder at 10-15m depths.
• Covers multiple Pacific regions: Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and Pacific Remote Island Areas.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is limited to diurnally active, shallow-water (<30m) hard-bottom reef fish.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Non-invasive underwater stationary point count (SPC) surveys.

Time Range

2000 to 2007

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 22:59:04.002638; freshness should be verified

Geography

Pacific Ocean (Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, Pacific Remote Island Areas)