This project ensures that the existing data from previous fishery independent surveys can be combined with data collected under new methodology, ensuring preservation of long-time series reef fish datasets in the US Caribbean. Specifically, this archived dataset are the site level fish abundance and size observations collected simultaneously by one transect diver and a pair of stationary point count divers at survey sites in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These collection methods represent the pre- National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) belt-transect survey methodology and the currently used Reef Visual Census (RVC) survey methodology, respectively. More information about the methodologies can be found (Jeffrey 2019 & CRCP 2022). In the U.S. Caribbean, the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program began in 2012. Initially, the belt transect method was used for fish surveys, but then transitioned to the RVC method in all the U.S. Caribbean by 2016. This dataset is the field samples collected in order to properly calibrate belt transect data to RVC data.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 1 sites at Supply Reef in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in September, 2003 from the NOAA vessel Oscar Elton Sette (OES03-07). Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA) conducted at 2 sites around Pathfinder Reef in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 3 September - 1 October 2005 in the NOAA Oscar Elton Sette (OES 0511) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA) conducted at 6 sites around Tinian in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 3 September - 1 October 2005 in the NOAA Oscar Elton Sette (OES0511) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA) conducted at 5 sites around Tinian in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 12 - 22 May 2007 in the NOAA Hi'ialakai (HI0702) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 2 sites at Pathfinder Reef in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in September, 2003 from the NOAA vessel Oscar Elton Sette (OES03-07). Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

This dataset contains raw and processed data from an annual long-term monitoring program documenting fish and benthic community observations, along with water quality measurements, at East Flower Garden Bank (EFGB) and West Flower Garden Bank (WFGB). These two sites are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), located in the northwestern Gulf of America. Monitoring began in 1989 and is funded by FGBNMS and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, with support from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. EFGB and WFGB are coral reef-capped features that form part of a discontinuous arc of reef environments along the outer continental shelf. They rise from salt dome formations located approximately 190 km south of the Texas-Louisiana border and include habitats ranging from 16 to 166 meters in depth. The shallow bank caps lie within the photic zone and support diverse coral, algal, invertebrate, and fish communities, many of which are shared with Caribbean reef systems. Benthic community data are derived from benthic photo analysis using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe). Fish surveys are conducted annually using a modified Bohnsack and Bannerot stationary point count method, and results are recorded in Excel spreadsheets. Water quality parameters (e.g., temperature, salinity, turbidity, nutrients) are obtained from moored conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) instruments, water samples, and quarterly profiling of the water column. Temperature and salinity records are reduced to daily averages for long-term trend analysis.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA) conducted at 8 sites around Saipan in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 3 September - 1 October 2005 in the NOAA Oscar Elton Sette (OES 0511) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

This dataset contains raw and processed data from an annual long-term monitoring program documenting fish and benthic community observations, along with water quality measurements, at East Flower Garden Bank (EFGB) and West Flower Garden Bank (WFGB). These two sites are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), located in the northwestern Gulf of America. Monitoring began in 1989 and is funded by FGBNMS and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, with support from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. EFGB and WFGB are coral reef-capped features that form part of a discontinuous arc of reef environments along the outer continental shelf. They rise from salt dome formations located approximately 190 km south of the Texas-Louisiana border and include habitats ranging from 16 to 166 meters in depth. The shallow bank caps lie within the photic zone and support diverse coral, algal, invertebrate, and fish communities, many of which are shared with Caribbean reef systems. Benthic community data are derived from benthic photo analysis using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe). Fish surveys are conducted annually using a modified Bohnsack and Bannerot stationary point count method, and results are recorded in Excel spreadsheets. Water quality parameters (e.g., temperature, salinity, turbidity, nutrients) are obtained from moored conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) instruments, water samples, and quarterly profiling of the water column. Temperature and salinity records are reduced to daily averages for long-term trend analysis.

Stationary Point Counts at 4 stations at each survey site were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA) conducted at 8 sites around Saipan in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 12 - 22 May 2007 in the NOAA Hi'ialakai (HI0702) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.