Open Circuit-Rebreather Comparisons 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 paired reef fish assessment surveys conducted using close-circuit rebreather (which does not produce bubbles).

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.