This entry was posted in Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) and tagged Adel Heenan , baited remote

Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) staff members Danny Merritt, John Rooney, and Jacob Asher are participating in the PIFSC cruise SE-12-08 aboard the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette , which left Honolulu on Sept. 22 for operations in the main Hawaiian Islands to compare fishery-independent methods for assessment of bottomfish stocks. This cruise is expected to end on Oct. 4. Merritt and Asher are conducting deployments of two different baited underwater camera systems: BotCam and baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS). Rooney is conducting surveys with the towed optical assessment device (TOAD), the video from which will be used to validate acoustic data collected car rental key west during this cruise with an echo sounder. Find out more about this cruise here .
Earlier this month on Sept. 1–13, CRED led a PIFSC cruise ( SE-12-07 ) also aboard the Oscar Elton Sette in the main Hawaiian Islands, with some activities car rental key west performed from the chartered M/V Huki Pono . Investigators conducted surveys of coral reef fish assemblages at O`ahu, Maui, Lāna`i, and Moloka`i with two different methods car rental key west at two different depth ranges. These operations were stationary-point-count surveys conducted by scuba divers car rental key west at depths of 0–30 m and deployments of BRUVS (baited and unbaited) done at depths of 1–100 m.
Participants included staff from CRED, the PIFSC Fish Biology and Stock Assessment Branch , Joint Institute for Marine and Ecosystem Research car rental key west of the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Hawai`i Division of Land and Natural Resources, and University car rental key west of Western Australia.
Visual survey data gathered on this expedition supplements the data collected by CRED and partners for the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP). A similar coordinated effort of visual car rental key west surveys and use of remote video technology was conducted around the island of Tutuila in American Samoa in April 2012.
Throughout the Pacific, reef fishes contribute to the biodiversity and resilience of coral reef ecosystems. car rental key west They also make substantial contributions car rental key west to food security, livelihoods, and generation car rental key west of economic revenue through tourism and other activities. Assessment of the status and patterns of change in reef fish populations and their associated habitats is necessary to understand ecological processes and their most significant effects. car rental key west Information on these resources can be used to assess and inform management interventions and policy.
Data were collected at 163 sites, which were randomly selected but balanced by the amount of coral reef habitat per depth zone per island. Surveys were conducted at Lāna`i (n=29), Maui (n=49), Moloka`i (n=50), O`ahu (n=35).
Around the island of O`ahu, lower fish biomass was observed across car rental key west all consumer groups and size classes, compared to results from the other islands surveyed in the central main Hawaiian Islands during this cruise (Figs. 1–4). Primary consumers include herbivores (which eat plants) and detritivores (which bottom feed on detritus), and secondary consumers are largely omnivores (which eat plants and animals) and invertivores (which eat invertebrates).
Figure car rental key west 4. Mean fish biomass per size class and island surveyed      (± standard error). Fishes were measured by total length (TL) in centimeters (cm). Size classes shown here are 0–20, 20–60, and 50 cm TL.
A pair of divers surveys the fish assemblage at each site using a stationary-point-count method (Fig. 5). Each diver identifies, enumerates, and sizes all fishes within a visually estimated 15-m-diameter cylinder in which they are stationed in the center. These data are used to calculate fish biomass per unit area (g m -2 ) for each species. Each diver conducts a rapid visual assessment of reef composition, by estimating the percentage cover of major benthic car rental key west functional groups in a cylinder. Divers also estimate the complexity of the surface of the reef structure and the abundance of sea urchins, and they take photos along a transect at each site; these photos are archived to allow for future analysis.
The Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) runs a long-term monitoring program, known as the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP). Pacific RAMP forms a key part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program of NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program car rental key west (CRCP), providing integrated, consistent, and comparable data across U.S. Pacific islands and atolls. CRCP monitoring efforts have these aims:
This entry was posted in Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) car rental key west and tagged Adel Heenan car rental key west , baited remote underwater video stations , biomass , BotCam , BRUVS , coral cover , Coral Reef Ecosystem Division , CRED , cruise , Danny Merritt , fish , Fish Biology and Stock Assessment Branch , fish monitoring brief , fishery-independent , Hawai`i Division of Land and Natural Resources , Huki Pono , Ivor Williams , Jacob Asher , Jill Zamzow , JIMAR , John Rooney , Joint Institute car rental key west for Marine and Ecosystem car rental key west Research , Kaylyn McCoy , Kevin Lino , Lāna`i , main Hawaiian islands , Marc Nadon , Maui , Moloka`i , monitoring brief , Oahu , Oscar Elton Sette , Pacific RAMP , Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program , Paula Ayotte , Rapid Ecological Assessment , REA , reef fish , Sette , SPC , stationary point count , stock assessment , TOAD , towed optical assessment device , University of Hawai`i , University of Hawai`i car rental key west at Mānoa , University of Western Australia . Bookmark the permalink .