National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Dry Tortugas during 2014

Jeremiah Blondeau1, Stephen K. Formel2, Stephen K. Formel2, Abby Benson2, Abby Benson2, Erica Towle3, Erica Towle3, Marion Stoessel4, Mathew Biddle5

1 US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Southeast Fisheries Science Center; Miami, FL Laboratory, ; 2 U.S. Geological Survey, ; 3 National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP), ; 4 Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System, ; 5 United States Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (US MBON), 

Corresponding author(s): , Jeremiah Blondeau (jeremiah.blondeau@noaa.gov)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, National Park Service, University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, Blondeau J, US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Southeast Fisheries Science Center (NMFS/SEFSC) (2023). National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Dry Tortugas during 2014. Version 1.8. United States Geological Survey. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=drytortugasreefvisualcensus2014&v=1.8

Abstract

This dataset includes observations of reef fish near the Dry Tortugas in 2014. Data were sourced from the SEFSC Data Portal and aligned to Darwin Core. This data is a subset of data from an ongoing project that includes data from other regions and years and is dependent on the sampling design. Data were collected by divers conducting reef visual census (RVC) fish surveys and habitat assessments at 436 sites in the Dry Tortugas. NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) divers collaborated with the University of Miami and the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), Florida Fish and Wildlife Department/Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), State of Florida, Nova Southeastern University, and the National Park Service (South Florida and Caribbean Network). Data are used to assess population and habitat trends (e.g., whether species are overfished), ecosystem responses to fisheries management actions, including determining the effectiveness of no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) and benthic community and coral demographics.

Keywords: Occurrence, Samplingevent, BENTHIC COMMUNITIES, BENTHIC SPECIES, biological data, CORAL, DEPTH - OBSERVATION, Fish, FISH - CORAL REEF, FISH CENSUS, FISH SPECIES, HABITAT, HABITAT - BENTHIC, SPECIES IDENTIFICATION, SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - COUNT, swimmer/diver, benthic, biological, in situ, survey - biological, survey - coral reef, survey - swimmer/diver, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida State Department of Environmental Protection, Nova Southeastern University, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Southeast Fisheries Science Center, US DOC; NOAA; NOS; Coral Reef Conservation Program, US DOC; NOAA; NOS; ONMS; Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, US DOI; National Park Service, US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), CORAL REEF STUDIES, National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP), Coastal Waters of Florida, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic Ocean, oceanography, SEFSC, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, DOC/NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC > Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce, DOC/NOAA/NOS/NMS > National Marine Sanctuaries, National Ocean Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce, DOI/NPS > National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, U-MIAMI/RSMAS > Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Numeric Data Sets > Biology, Numeric Data Sets > Fish Census, EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Reef Fish Census, EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Fish > Fish Census, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > FISH, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > BENTHIC, EARTH SCIENCE > SOLID EARTH > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > COASTAL LANDFORMS > CORAL REEFS, in situ, Diver Visual Survey, COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Florida > Monroe County > Florida Keys (24N081W0007), OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > North Atlantic Ocean > Florida Reef Tract > Florida Keys (24N081W0007), OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF MEXICO, Florida Keys Reef Tract, Biennial

General description

Purpose: To provide continued reef fish and habitat monitoring in Florida’s coral reef tract to assess population and habitat trends, fish-habitat associations, and ecosystem responses to natural events (e.g., hurricanes), management measures and anthropogenic impacts. To examine the effectiveness of marine reserves and other management strategies in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS –Sanctuary Preservation Areas SPAs, Tortugas Ecological Reserves TERs and Dry Tortugas National Park – Research Natural Area RNA).
Additional information: marine, harvest by iOBIS
Documentation of codes and controlled vocabularies is included in the NCEI archive: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0156445

Project details

Project title: NOAA'S National Coral Reef Monitoring Program
Personnel: Erica Towle
Funding: NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program project #743
Study area descriptions/descriptor: The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program surveys shallow water (0-30m) tropical coral reef ecosystems in the many priority geographic areas. See Miller et al. 2011 for more detail.
Design description: For detail, see: Towle, Erica K., et al. 'National coral reef monitoring plan.' (2021) https://doi.org/10.25923/fqkq-w497

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=drytortugasreefvisualcensus2014

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Reef fish
Taxonomic ranks
Class: Teleostei, Elasmobranchii

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary | Tortugas Ecological Reserves (TERs) | Dry Tortugas National Park – Research Natural Area (RNA)
Coordinates: 24°33'21.6''N and 24°43'58.8''N Latitude; 83°6'14.4''W and 82°46'12''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: June 2, 2014 - July 27, 2014

Methods

Method step description: For detailed Standard Operating Procedures, see: Brandt, Marilyn E., et al. 'A cooperative multi-agency reef fish monitoring protocol for the Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem.' (2009) https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/546
Study extent description: National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) monitoring of coral reef ecosystems focuses on status and changes in the benthic community, with emphasis on the reef-building corals and on the assemblages of reef fishes that utilize the coral reef environment.
Sampling description: For detailed Standard Operating Procedures, see: Brandt, Marilyn E., et al. 'A cooperative multi-agency reef fish monitoring protocol for the Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem.' (2009) https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/546
Quality control description: All field data undergo extensive QA/QC procedures. For detailed Standard Operating Procedures, see: Brandt, Marilyn E., et al. 'A cooperative multi-agency reef fish monitoring protocol for the Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem.' (2009) https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/546

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of fish communities in the Dry Tortugas during 2014
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/archive.do?r=drytortugasreefvisualcensus2014
Publication date of data: 2023-07-24
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

External datasets

Dataset description
Object name: CRCP Florida Fish Files
Character encoding: Unknown
Format name: ERDDAP
Distribution: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/CRCP_Reef_Fish_Surveys_Florida.html

Dataset description
Object name: NCEI Dataset Landing Page
Character encoding: Unknown
Format name: CSV
Distribution: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0156445

Dataset description
Object name: SEFSC South Florida National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Data Portal
Character encoding: Unknown
Format name: CSV
Distribution: https://grunt.sefsc.noaa.gov/rvc_analysis20/?acton=index

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2016-09-02
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
A Cooperative Multi-agency Reef Fish Monitoring Protocol for the Florida Keys Coral Reef Ecosystem. Brandt, M.E., N. Zurcher, A. Acosta, J.S. Ault, J.A. Bohnsack, M.W. Feeley, D.E. Harper, John Hunt, T. Kellison, D.B. McClellan , M.E. Patterson , S.G. Smith. Natural Resource Report NPS/SFCN/NRR-2009/150. National Park Service, Ft. Collins, CO. 107 pp. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/546
Multispecies survey design for assessing reef-fish stocks, spatially-explicit management performance, and ecosystem condition. Smith, S.G., J.S. Ault, J.A. Bohnsack, D.E. Harper, J. Luo, and D.B. McClellan. Journal of Fisheries Research 109(1): 25-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2011.01.012
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
Towle, Erica K., et al. 'National coral reef monitoring plan.' (2021). https://doi.org/10.25923/fqkq-w497