National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Stratified Random Surveys (StRS) of Reef Fish, including Benthic Estimate Data of the Pacific Remote Island Areas from 2015-01-26 to 2015-04-28 (NCEI Accession 0157595)

The stationary point count (SPC) method is used to conduct reef fish surveys in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). The SPC method catalogs the diversity (species richness), abundance (numeric density) and biomass (fish mass per unit area) of diurnally active reef fish assemblages in shallow-water (less than 30 m) hard-bottom habitats. Visual estimates of benthic cover and topographic complexity are also recorded, with benthic organisms grouped into broad functional categories (e.g., 'Hard Coral', 'Macroalgae'). A stratified random sampling (StRS) design is employed to survey the coral reef ecosystems throughout the U.S.-Pacific regions. For all regions, the survey domain encompasses the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats and the stratification includes island, reef zone, and depth, with the exception of the Main Hawaiian Islands that includes habitat structure type as well. Sampling effort is allocated based on strata area.

Data provided in this data set were collected as part of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led NCRMP missions around the Pacific Remote Island Areas in 2015.

固定点计数法（stationary point count, SPC）被应用于夏威夷群岛、马里亚纳群岛、美属萨摩亚以及太平洋偏远岛群的礁鱼类调查工作，该工作作为美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）国家珊瑚礁监测计划（National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, NCRMP）的组成部分开展。固定点计数法可编目记录浅水区（水深小于30米）硬质底质生境中昼行性礁鱼类集群的多样性（物种丰富度）、丰度（数值密度）以及生物量（单位面积鱼类质量）。同时还会记录底栖覆盖度与地形复杂度的目视评估结果，底栖生物被划分为宽泛的功能类别（如“硬珊瑚”“大型藻类”）。本次调查采用分层随机抽样（Stratified Random Sampling, StRS）设计，对美属太平洋全域的珊瑚礁生态系统开展普查。所有调查区域的调查范围均覆盖绝大多数已测绘的礁体与硬质底质生境区域，分层依据涵盖岛屿、礁区及水深；主夏威夷群岛除外，其分层还额外纳入生境结构类型维度。抽样工作量按各层级的面积进行分配。
本数据集收录的数据，是2015年由美国国家海洋和大气管理局太平洋岛屿渔业科学中心（Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, PIFSC）珊瑚礁生态系统计划（Coral Reef Ecosystem Program, CREP）牵头实施的NCRMP任务中，于太平洋偏远岛群周边采集所得。