Observers are required to take photos and/or videos of all incidentally caught sea turtles, marine mammals, seabirds and unusual or rare fish. On the first 3 observed trips observers are also required to take photos of all fish they encounter for the first time.

This project investigates foraging behavior of Hawaiian monk seals by conducting telemetry studies. During these studies, live seals are instrumented with dive recorders, crittercams, and other instruments to determine foraging locations and dive and foraging behavior.

Photos of fish, marine mammals, turtles, ships, and other related subjects for use by students, educators, scientists, media, etc.

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. The reef fish survey of Madison-Swanson and Steamboat Lumps MPA is conducted primarily on the along topographic features (e.g. reefs, banks and ledges) of the MPA. A two-stage sampling design is used with the first stage or primary sampling units defined by geographic/geoform strata including ridges, pinnacles, rubble and sand flats and the second stage being randomly selected sites within the geoform strata. Sampling is conducted using a video camera array. No biological sampling is coupled with the survey because of the areas status as an MPA. The camera array consists of four housings positioned orthogonally and center mounted at a height of 51 cm above the bottom of the array. Each housing contains a pair of black-and-white Videre stereo cameras along with a color mpeg camera. Sampling of reef sites with video cameras occurs only during daylight hours, with the first gear deployment one hour after sunrise and the last gear retrieval one hour prior to sunset. Video arrays soak for 35 minutes. Habitat mapping was conducted using a multibeam echosounder by USGS. At each site hydrological data is collected using Conductivity Temperature Depth sensor (CTD).

Photos of catch, methodology, scientists, and habitat organized by year and month, 2003-current.

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized reef fish video surveys in the Gulf of Mexico since 1992. The survey primarily occurs on the outer continental shelf along topographic features (e.g. reefs, banks and ledges) between Brownsville, TX to the Dry Tortugas, FL, and provides fisheries independent indices of reef fish abundance for use in stock assessments.

Photos of catch, methodology, scientists, and habitat organized by year and month 2009-current.

Effective management of marine turtle data is essential to maximize their research value and enable timely population assessments and recovery monitoring. To provide such capabilities at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a comprehensive Turtle Data Processing System (TDPS, formally called Marine Turtle Data Management System) was created. The system was written in DBase III and Clipper and implemented on IBM/PC-compatible computers running under MS-DOS. As of 2003, TDPS was upgraded into Microsoft Access. The TDPS is modular, supporting data of various types. Cross-referencing and multiple-encounter analysis are enabled through a core database file of individual turtle identifications, based on uniquely-inscribed flipper tags and passive-integrative transponder tags.

The ability to correctly and consistently identify sea turtles over time was evaluated using digital imagery of the turtles dorsal and side views of their heads and dorsal views of their carapaces

Observer Program web page that lists the observer field manual and all current data collection forms that observers are required to take out to sea.