Puerto Rico Reef Visual Census (RVC) 2016 - 2021

Citation

Description

The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP)’s biological sampling provides a biennial ecological characterization of general reef condition for reef fishes, corals, and benthic habitat (i.e., fish species composition, density, and size; coral species composition, density, size, condition; and benthic community cover) at a broad spatial scale. In the U.S. Atlantic, NCRMP biological sampling includes coral reef and hardbottom habitats in Florida, Flower Garden Banks, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). NCRMP Fish surveys are conducted using the Reef Visual Census (RVC) stationary point count method (Brandt et al. 2009). Fish surveys are conducted at all NCRMP biological survey sites and may occur concurrently with Coral Demographic/Benthic Assessment surveys. These data are fish observations from the RVC in the waters of Puerto Rico in 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Data were downloaded from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (https://grunt.sefsc.noaa.gov/rvc_analysis20/) and standardized to Darwin Core for publication through OBIS-USA. Taxa that could not be aligned to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) were filtered out. Data includes water visibility and fish length measurements.

Purpose

NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program administers a gold-standard, national coral reef monitoring program that covers all U.S. coral reefs. Known as the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, it has followed a standard, but regionally-tailored approach since 2013. The monitoring effort provides comprehensive information about the current and future state of the nation's coral reefs by integrating benthic, fish, climate, and socioeconomic data. This information is used to guide conservation projects and document the effectiveness of restoration efforts.

Sampling Description

Taxonomic Coverages

Geographic Coverages

Bibliographic Citations

1. Towle, Erica K., et al. "National coral reef monitoring plan." (2021). https://doi.org/10.25923/fqkq-w497 - https://doi.org/10.25923/fqkq-w497
2. Smith, S.G., et al. 2011, Multispecies survey design for assessing reef-fish stocks, spatially explicit management performance, and ecosystem condition. Fisheries Research 109(2011)25-41 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2011.01.012 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2011.01.012
3. Brandt, M. E., et. al. 2009, A Cooperative Multi-agency Reef Fish Monitoring Protocol for the Florida Keys Coral Reef Ecosystem. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/546 - https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/546
4. Miller, J., et al. "Coral Reef Conservation Program mapping achievements and unmet needs. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration." Coral Reef Conservation Program (2011). - https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/650