National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Towed-diver Surveys of Large-bodied Fishes of the Hawaiian Archipelago in 2016 (NCEI Accession 0157567)

The towed-diver method is used to conduct surveys of large-bodied (> 50 cm) fishes in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). A suitable method for assessing relatively large areas of reef habitat, the method involves towing a pair of SCUBA divers—one benthic and one fish—behind a small boat for approximately 50 min following the ~15-m depth contour and covering about 2–3 km of habitat. Each diver is equipped with a towboard and attempts to maintain a constant elevation above the surface of the reef (~1 m) for the duration of the survey. A complete towed-diver survey is divided into 10 5-min segments, with visual observations recorded by 5-min segment.
The visual estimate data provided in this dataset were collected during towed-diver surveys in which the number, size, and species of all large-bodied fishes observed within a visually estimated 5-m transect on either side of the fish diver and 10 m in front were recorded. The data were collected around the Hawaiian Archipelago as part of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led mission in 2016. These data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

拖曳潜水员法（towed-diver method）作为美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）国家珊瑚礁监测计划（National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, NCRMP）的一部分，被用于在夏威夷群岛、马里亚纳群岛、美属萨摩亚以及太平洋偏远岛群开展体长大于50厘米的大型鱼类调查。该方法适用于评估大面积珊瑚礁生境，具体操作是将两名水肺潜水员（SCUBA divers）——一名负责底栖生境观测、一名负责鱼类观测——拖曳在小型船只后方，沿约15米等深线行进约50分钟，覆盖约2至3公里的生境范围。每名潜水员配备拖曳板（towboard），并需在整个调查过程中保持与礁体表面约1米的恒定高度。完整的拖曳潜水员调查被划分为10个5分钟时段，按每个5分钟时段记录目视观测数据。
本数据集提供的目视估算数据，采集自拖曳潜水员调查过程：调查过程中，需记录鱼类观测潜水员两侧各5米、前方10米范围内的目视估算5米宽样带（transect）中，所有观测到的大型鱼类的数量、体型及物种信息。这批数据于2016年采集自夏威夷群岛，属于美国国家海洋和大气管理局太平洋岛屿渔业科学中心（Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, PIFSC）牵头的珊瑚礁生态系统计划（Coral Reef Ecosystem Program, CREP）任务内容。相关数据可通过美国国家环境信息中心（National Centers for Environmental Information, NCEI）海洋档案馆在线获取。