Deep-sea corals, also known as cold water corals, create complex communities that provide habitat for a variety of invertebrate and fish species, such as grouper, snapper, and sea bass. The map depicts the relative likelihood of finding suitable habitat for stony corals at a given location and is a prediction based on a statistical model relating several environmental characteristics to the presence of stony corals using observations of stony corals. Stony coral are the primary reef-building corals and produce hard skeletons made of aragonite, a crystal form of calcium carbonate. Please also reference the "Deep-Sea Soft Coral Habitat Suitability" layer. Predictions from these habitat suitability models can be used to support conservation and management of deep-sea corals and to assist with targeting areas for mapping and exploration.

Deep-sea corals, also known as cold water corals, create complex communities that provide habitat for a variety of invertebrate and fish species, such as grouper, snapper, and sea bass. The map depicts the relative likelihood of finding suitable habitat for soft corals at a given location and is a prediction based on a statistical model relating several environmental characteristics to the presence of soft corals using observations of soft coral. Soft corals, unlike stony corals, do not form calcium-based skeletons. A common example of a soft coral is a sea fan. Please also reference the "Deep-Sea Stony Coral Habitat Suitability" layer. Predictions from these habitat suitability models can be used to support conservation and management of deep-sea corals and to assist with targeting areas for mapping and exploration.

Scientists examined the coral-associated invertebrate fauna at three large precious coral beds in the Hawaiian Archipelago, the Makapuu Bed, on the southwest slope of Oahu, the Keahole Bed, on the western slope of Hawaii, and the Cross Seamount Bed.

These data depict zones for the protection of deep-sea coral from physical damage by fishing gear. Commercial fishermen are prohibited from using bottom-tending gear such otter trawls; beam trawls; hydraulic dredges; non-hydraulic dredges; seines; longlines; pots and traps; and sink or anchored gillnets within these zones. Additional coral protection areas may also be defined as part of an Area of Particular Concern within an Essential Fish Habitat.

This report provides the results of the first quantitative survey of the coral reef communities in the vicinity of the Mokapu Ocean Outfall in Kailua Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. This survey, conducted in April and July 1998, focuses on benthic and fish community structure and is designed to detect community changes that may be mediated by the release of treated sewage through the outfall. The Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which has been operational since 1977, releases a little more than 13 mgd of secondary treated sewage through a 1.55-km-long discharge pipe at a depth of 32 m. If impacts are occurring to marine communities from a point-source discharge, their effects will be most evident in proximity to the source and less obvious with distance from the source. The sampling strategy used in this study focuses on quantifying the degree of development of marine communities adjacent to and at distances from the discharge source. This strategy should allow delineation of impacts if they are occurring. The results of this first survey indicate that the marine communities in the study area are diverse, with well-developed fish and coral components. This is particularly evident on the Mokapu Ocean Outfall diffuser (Transect T-1) where a high-biomass, diverse fish community occurs. This well-developed fish community is related to the shelter created by the diffuser pipe and basalt armor rock, as well as to the release of organic particles in the treated effluent which serve as a food resource for some fish species. The development of corals as measured in terms of live coverage in the diffuser pipe community is about half that found at the more distant sampling sites. However, a second sampling site (Transect T-2) located parallel to and 15 m away from the diffuser has coral coverage very similar to that found elsewhere in Kailua Bay. These data suggest that if the operation of the Kailua Regional WWTP is having an impact on marine communities, it is very limited in scope and scale.

The marine biota of Johnston atoll was surveyed for non-indigenous species in June, 2000 with observations and collections made by investigators using Scuba. Eleven stations were surveyed, including sites at the Johnston Island pier, the north and south lagoon and the outer reef slope. A total of 668 taxa were determined, with 462 of these identified to species. Data are provided as derived from the report: 2001-001. Coles, S.L., R.C. DeFelice & D. Minton. 2001. Marine species survey of Johnston Atoll, central Pacific Ocean, June 2000. Report to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Honolulu. Bishop Museum Technical Report 19: iv + 56 pp. (Presently found online at http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pdf/johnstonreport.pdf)

The marine biota of Johnston atoll was surveyed for non-indigenous species in June, 2000 with observations and collections made by investigators using Scuba. Eleven stations were surveyed, including sites at the Johnston Island pier, the north and south lagoon and the outer reef slope. A total of 668 taxa were determined, with 462 of these identified to species. Data are provided as derived from the report: 2001-001. Coles, S.L., R.C. DeFelice & D. Minton. 2001. Marine species survey of Johnston Atoll, central Pacific Ocean, June 2000. Report to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Honolulu. Bishop Museum Technical Report 19: iv + 56 pp. (Presently found online at http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pdf/johnstonreport.pdf)

These reports provide the results of nine years (1990-98) of an annual quantitative monitoring of shallow marine communities inshore of the Sand Island Ocean Outfall, Oahu, Hawaii. This monitoring effort focuses on benthic and fish community structure and is designed to detect changes in these communities. Marine communities offshore of Honolulu have received considerable perturbation over the last 100 years. Dumping of raw sewage in shallow water, which occurred from 1955 to 1977, was halted in 1978; however, point and nonpoint sources of pollution from both urban activities and industry continue. All of these disturbances may serve to obscure any impacts that may be caused by treated effluent discharged from the deep-ocean outfall. The marine communities show a considerable range in development that is probably related to historical impacts. Stations have been located to take advantage of these gradients. Analysis of the nine years of data showed that there has been no statistically significant change in any of the biological parameters measured in this study other than for the mean number of invertebrate species and numbers of individual invertebrates encountered per transect. In these cases the data for 1998 showed significantly greater numbers of species and individuals over other years. These changes are probably the result of higher than usual counts of the Christmas tree worm Spirobranchus giganteus corniculatus, as well as just more invertebrate species present at most stations.

A survey of the marine communities of Midway Atoll harbor and surrounding lagoon was conducted at 12 sites from September 5 to 9, 1998. The primary focus of these surveys was the invertebrates of the fouling communities present on artificial substrates. Occurrence of reef fishes at each site was also recorded, and algae was collected and identified from four stations. A total of 444 taxa were identified (47 algae, 316 invertebrates, and 81 fishes) from all stations. Approximately 250 invertebrate and 35 algae species are considered new records for Midway Atoll. All fishes observed were previously recorded from the atoll. Only three invertebrates identified in this survey are considered to be nonindigenous species in the Hawaiian Islands. One introduced bryozoan, Amathia distans, dominated the fouling communities at most stations where artificial substrates were available. Another introduced bryozoan, Schizoporella errata, was also common at the same stations. A non indigenous barnacle, Chthamalus proteus, recently introduced from the Caribbean, was common on pier pilings inside Midway harbor. No introduced invertebrates were present in natural habitats. The introduced snapper, Lutjanus kasmira, was also present along the reef outside the lagoon. The threat to the native reef community by established non-indigenous species is considered minimal. The presence of these introduced species at Midway, especially Chthamalus proteus, suggests that vectors of future, potentially more deleterious introductions exist. Transport of these introductions was most likely as fouling on ship bottoms, but other sources of introductions, such as ballast water carried in ships, should be guarded against to protect the relatively pristine reefs of Midway Atoll.

Data collected included AIR TEMPERATURE, BAROMETRIC PRESSURE, BENTHIC COMMUNITIES, BENTHIC SPECIES, CONDUCTIVITY, CURRENT METER - EAST-WEST COMPONENT (U), CURRENT METER - NORTH-SOUTH COMPONENT (V), HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE, LIGHT ATTENUATION, LONGWAVE RADIATION - REFLECTED, OXYGEN, PHOTOSYNTHETIC ACTIVE RADIATION (PAR), RELATIVE HUMIDITY, SALINITY, WATER TEMPERATURE, WIND DIRECTION, WIND SPEED, pH.