Video transects of coral reefs on the west coast of the island of Hawaii collected from 2017-02-03 to 2017-02-08 (NCEI Accession 0172858)

The videos are in MP4 format and include audio of the diver's comments noting observations of fish and coral species that were observed throughout the dive. To accomplish our goal of long-term monitoring of Hawaii coral reef health, the Seattle Aquarium's life sciences department began annually monitoring tropical reef fish abundance in both marine-protected and non-protected reef systems in 2009.

We document changes in fish abundance and diversity over time to better understand shifting baselines. Understanding these changes is critical to forming policies that effectively manage reef communities in this fragile ecosystem. Our method is diver-based underwater video documentation along transects similar to those established in the late 1990s and early 2000's by Drs.