Reef fish abundance and size data collected by transect and stationary point count methods: a calibration to enable the use of long-term, fishery-independent data by fisheries and regional managers in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) (NCEI Accession 0299733)

This project ensures that the existing data from previous fishery independent surveys can be combined with data collected under new methodology, ensuring preservation of long-time series reef fish datasets in the FGBNMS. Specifically, this archived dataset are the site level fish abundance and size observations made by one transect diver and a pair of stationary point count divers. These collection methods represent the transition of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) belt-transect survey methodology to the currently used Reef Visual Census (RVC) survey methodology, respectively. More information about the methodologies can be found (Jeffrey 2019 & CRCP 2022). In the FGBNMS, the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program began in 2013. Initially, the belt transect method was used for fish surveys, but then transitioned to the RVC method in the FGBNMS by 2018. This dataset is the field samples collected in order to properly calibrate belt transect data to RVC data.