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PIFSC Data Report ; DR-19-040

PIFSC data report ; DR-19-039

This report summarizes the reef fish survey data and a subset of the benthic data collected by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Program for Pacific RAMP and for compatible PMNM, NMFS and CRCP survey missions in 2016. During 2016, surveys were conducted in the following regions: main Hawaiian Islands, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Pacific Remote Island Areas, and American Samoa. The status of reef fish assemblages in each region is first described in the wider Pacific context (Section: U.S. Pacific reefs: the status of reef fish). Given the substantial changes in methods and design used for the reef fish assemblage surveys, this section shows observations collected since 2009, after which point, the reef fish assemblage surveys for Pacific RAMP were consistently conducted using the SPC method under a depthstratified random sampling design. Towed-diver surveys of large fishes (greater than or equal to 50 cm) were designed to generate data at regional or sub-regional scale, and thus we do not generally present island-level summaries of this information. Instead, the towed-diver surveyed data are shown at the regional scale following the SPC reef fish assemblage section. In the final section, the publications that were produced in 2016 as a result of those surveys are listed; these publications either use the Pacific RAMP fish data or were co-authored by members of the CREP fish team and relevant to Pacific RAMP fish ecological monitoring work.

The Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) established a long-term monitoring program, known as the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP) in 2000. Pacific RAMP, which is 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 monitors reef areas in the following regions: the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA), which include Johnston and Wake Atolls and the U.S. Line and Phoenix Islands (...) The focus of this report is 1) the data collected using the stationary point count method to survey the fish assemblage and paired rapid visual assessments of benthic composition and; 2) the towed-diver fish survey.

Coral reef fish and benthos were surveyed at 150 shallow-water coral reef sites across the north coast of Timor-Leste in June 2013 during a 21-day survey mission. This project was conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) using consistent methods, survey design, and personnel. The goal of the survey work was to generate baseline data on the nearshore coral reef fish assemblages and associated benthic communities around Timor-Leste's north coast. Surveys were concentrated around the north coast due to (1) limited time and resources, but also (2) low water visibility and safety concerns for potential dive survey operations along the south shore. Fish biomass and benthic cover were estimated at all survey sites. All site-level data are shown in Appendix A.

This report summarizes a subset of the reef fish and benthic survey data collected by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division for Pacific RAMP and for compatible PMNM, NMFS and CRCP survey missions in 2012 and 2013. Over that time period, surveys were conducted in the following regions: the Pacific Remote Island Areas, American Samoa and the main Hawaiian Islands. The status of reefs in each region is first described in the wider Pacific context (Section: U.S. Pacific reefs: the status of reef fish) and then at the island scale for each of the regions (Section: Island status and trends). Given the substantial changes in methods and design, this report specifically focuses on examining the observations collected since 2009, which only includes the subset of Pacific RAMP data that were collected using the SPC method under the depth-stratified random sampling design. In the final section, the publications that were produced in 2012 and 2013 as a result of those surveys are listed; these publications either use the Pacific RAMP fish data or were coauthored by members of the CRED fish team and relevant to Pacific RAMP fish ecological monitoring work. All data used in this report along with other biological and climate monitoring data collected by CRED for Pacific RAMP are available upon request.