Abundance and Size of Seagrass-Associated Fishes in the Virginia Coastal Lagoons, 2019-2024

These data comprise annual summer estimates of the abundance (counts) and size (length) of fishes across restored seagrass meadows of the Virginia coastal lagoons. Fish were collected using a 25-ft (7.62-m) wide beach seine hauled by hand over a 25 m linear swath of the seafloor. Seine hauls were collected in June at 31 sites (1 haul per site). All fish caught in the seine were identified to lowest practical taxonomic level, counted, measured (total length), and released. Data collection began in June 2019 and continues annually (sampling was not carried out in 2020 due to logistical interruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic).
Data on water temperature, salinity, and conductivity were collected while sampling occurred using a YSI 30 probe. Dissolved oxygen measurements were collected using a YSI ProODO probe. In 2019, these data were collected on at the top and bottom of the water column, but in 2021 and subsequent sampling only one observation (mid-water column) was made. To reconcile this difference for the combined data set, top and bottom environmental measurements from 2019 were averaged.
Each fish collection site is co-located with a nearby synoptic site where long-term measurements of seagrass, sediments, and fauna are made. The relationship between site names and coordinates are given in Synoptic_fish_sites.csv. The sites where fish sampling occurred are different and are given by the "fish_sites" column, with coordinates for these sites under the "fish_longitude" and "fish_latitude" columns. Importantly, the coordinates of where sampling occurred will differ slightly between years without a change to the name of the site. Site geographic coordinates for individual years are in the PhysicalSamples.csv file. Sites are separated by at least 300 meters.
In 2023, three new sites were added to represent unvegetated areas outside of but near the seagrass meadows. These sites are HI29, SPDR-bare, and SS-bare, and are designed to serve as references for seagrass sites in Hog Island Bay, Spider Crab Bay / Cobb Bay, and South Bay / Ship Shoal, respectively.
Note: related but methodologically different data for 2012-2018 are available in dataset VCR14232 "Fish Counts and Lengths in South Bay and Hog Island Bay, Virginia 2012-2018" https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/cae6c1c3f90b1f7d65ec0c1ae9b94398