Rebreather fish surveys in American Samoa from 2016-04-15 to 2016-05-05 (NCEI Accession 0157573)

Surveys were conducted in the course of a reef fish survey cruise conducted by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). These data come from surveys conducted using close-circuit rebreathers. The use of rebreathers is intended to provide data that can be compared against data gathered on open-circuit SCUBA, which is the breathing apparatus typically used by CREP. The survey domain encompassed hard bottom habitats in American Samoa and the stratification included island, reef zone, and depth. Sites were surveyed using the stationary point count (SPC) method to quantify reef fish assemblages. At each survey site, fish biologists entered the water and conducted paired fine-scale (~700 square meters) and high degree of taxonomic resolution Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) survey to assess species diversity, size distribution, and abundance of fishes at the site. At each site, one survey was conducted on open-circuit SCUBA and one on closed circuit rebreather. Only rebreather survey data is described here. All reef fish and benthic estimate data collected during SPC surveys on SCUBA can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Metadata for SCUBA surveys at these sites is available at https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/34515

本数据集源自美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）太平洋岛屿渔业科学中心（Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, PIFSC）下属的珊瑚礁生态系统项目（Coral Reef Ecosystem Program, CREP）所开展的礁鱼类调查航次中的调查工作。本次数据通过闭路式呼吸器（close-circuit rebreather）开展的调查获取。使用闭路式呼吸器的目的是获取可与开路式水肺（open-circuit SCUBA）采集的数据进行比对的数据集——开路式水肺是CREP常规使用的呼吸装备。本次调查的范围覆盖美属萨摩亚的硬质底栖生境，调查分层因素包含岛屿、礁区及水深。调查站点采用定点计数法（stationary point count, SPC）开展，以量化礁鱼类群落组成。在每个调查站点，鱼类生物学家下水完成配对式精细尺度（约700平方米）、高分类学分辨率的快速生态评估（Rapid Ecological Assessment, REA）调查，以评估该站点的鱼类物种多样性、体长分布与丰度。每个站点均开展两次调查：一次使用开路式水肺，另一次使用闭路式呼吸器。本数据集仅对闭路式呼吸器调查的数据进行说明。所有通过开路式水肺开展的SPC调查所采集的礁鱼类及底栖生物评估数据，均可通过美国国家海洋和大气管理局国家环境信息中心（National Centers for Environmental Information, NCEI）在线获取。上述站点开路式水肺调查的元数据可通过以下链接获取：https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/34515