In an effort to detect spatial and temporal changes in the structure of the coral reef community, coral coverage and reef fish density and diversity were documented at selected sites along the Maui coastline using standard transect methodology and SCUBA. Physical parameters examined included: wave exposure, water motion, sedimentation levels and water quality (temperature, salinity, and turbidity). Nine long-term monitoring sites have been established since 1989.

Census of Coral and other data were collected by using swimmers and divers from January 1, 1981 to December 31, 1999. Data were submitted by the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Swimmers and divers collected data at the Coastal Waters of Hawaii to do surveys on coral reef.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (NOWRAMP) began in 2000 with the mission to rapidly evaluate and map the shallow water reef habitats in the NWHI. Utilizing two research vessels Rapture and NOAA Ship Townsend Cromwell, researchers spent 30 days at sea visiting each of the ten major islands, atolls and reefs in the remote region of the Hawaiian archipelago. This dataset is a small subset from these cruises. It includes spreadsheet data files on habitats, coral cores, coral species, substrate types, and substrate type percent bottom cover. A descriptive document is also included which was the basis for groundtruthing images from remote sensing. These descriptions give a wide range of information on coral and reef fish species abundance and distribution.

This dataset consists of digital still transect images (JPG files) from CRAMP surveys taken in 2007 from 9 sites on Maui, 3 sites on Molokai, and 1 site on Kauai. Sites typically have two transects along different isobaths, shallow (~3m) and deep (~10m) lines. Digital images are important for future researchers to resolve any question about how the image data were interpreted for the quantitative database, to provide the opportunity to re-analyze the images using other methods, and to return to the same locations for future comparisons. In a separate NODC Accession, 0051060, text data files are given of the substrate types and coverages as derived objectively from photographic images using PhotoGrid, a software package which analyzes random points on images of coral reefs and substrate.

Benthic, fish, and macroinvertebrate census data are collected from sites around Micronesia as part of the ongoing Micronesia Challenge. Information on the program can be found at (www.micronesiareefmonitoring.com). Survey sites are selected around each island to be representative of natural environmental gradients, management, and major reef types. Thus, full site designs can be used to evaluate both island trends and site-specific trends. The data in this submission include fish counts, macroinvertebrate counts, and benthic species identification and percent cover.

This dataset is a compilation and synthesis of secondary data in Hawaii corresponding to the following topics: Human population changes near coral reefs, Economic impact of coral reef fishing to jurisdiction, Economic impact of dive/snorkel tourism to jurisdiction, Community well-being, Physical infrastructure, and Governance. Data are collected from a variety of publicly available sources to supplement primary data collected through resident surveys. These secondary data are collected to address topics outside the scope of NCRMP resident surveys, and are collected on an annual basis throughout the US coral reef jurisdictions. The primary data that were collected as part of this study in Hawaii are available in NCEI Accession 0161545.