National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) Benthic Community Assessment Survey Field Protocols for U.S. Atlantic: Florida, Flower Garden Banks, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands 2022

The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP)’s biological sampling provides a biennial ecological characterization of general reef condition for reef fishes, corals, and benthic habitat (i.e., fish species composition, density, and size; coral species composition, density, size, condition; and benthic community cover) at a broad spatial scale (NCRMP 2021). In the U.S. Atlantic, NCRMP biological sampling includes coral reef and hardbottom habitats in Florida, Flower Garden Banks, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). NCRMP conducts surveys at stratified random sites where the sampling domain for each geographic region is partitioned by habitat type and depth, sub-regional location (e.g., along-shelf position), and management zone. 2022 Protocol CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System) Submitted https://doi.org/10.25923/0708-8333 CRCP Project ID ; 743 Public Domain 2149