Pacific Reef Fish and Benthic Surveys from 2007 to 2012

NOAA's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program collected reef fish and benthic data from 2007 to 2012 across the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas. The data were gathered using a stratified random sampling design and the stationary point count method, recording fish species, size, abundance, and benthic cover categories. Surveys were conducted by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's Ecosystem Sciences Division during Pacific RAMP and related research cruises.

Use Cases

• Modeling reef fish biodiversity and species richness based on survey counts.
• Analyzing the relationship between benthic cover categories (e.g., Hard Coral, Macroalgae) and fish assemblages.
• Assessing coral reef ecosystem health across stratified zones of depth and reef habitat.
• Tracking changes in fish biomass and numeric density over the 2007-2012 time period.

Strengths

• Data collected over a 6-year period from 2007 to 2012.
• Surveys employed a stratified random design across multiple Pacific regions and reef zones.
• Methodology consistently recorded fish species, size, abundance, and benthic cover estimates.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provided in PDF format, which may complicate direct analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Stationary point count (nSPC) underwater surveys by diver pairs, with benthic visual estimates.

Time Range

2007 to 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 22:59:00.422526; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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