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 closed-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

本数据集源于美国萨摩亚硬底质栖息地中，由美国国家海洋和大气管理局珊瑚礁生态系统项目（NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program，简称CREP）在太平洋岛屿渔业科学中心（NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center，简称PIFSC）执行的珊瑚礁鱼类调查航次过程中所进行的调查。调查采用闭路循环式呼吸器（closed-circuit rebreathers）进行，旨在提供可与其他采用开路循环式潜水设备（如CREP通常使用的呼吸器）收集的数据进行对比的资料。调查范围包括岛屿、礁区及水深等分层。调查地点采用固定点位计数（stationary point count，简称SPC）方法，以量化礁鱼类群。在每处调查点，鱼类学家下水并执行了配对的、精细尺度（约700平方米）且具有高分类学分辨率的快速生态评估（Rapid Ecological Assessment，简称REA）调查，以评估该地点的物种多样性、体型分布及鱼类丰度。在每个地点，均进行了一次开路循环式潜水设备调查和一次闭路循环式呼吸器调查。此处仅描述闭路循环式呼吸器调查数据。所有在潜水设备SPC调查中收集的珊瑚鱼类及底栖估算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（NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information，简称NCEI）在线获取。这些地点的潜水设备调查元数据可在https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/34515上查阅。