CRED Rapid Ecological Assessments of Fish Belt Transect Surveys and Fish Stationary Point Count Surveys in the Pacific Ocean 2000-2010

Quantitative assessment and monitoring of shallow reef fish assemblages is conducted around the US Pacific Islands as an integral part of the NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC Coral Reef Ecosystem Division's mission to improve our scientific understanding of these fish resources and related ecosystems. As fish are the primary sustainable living resource on Pacific coral reefs, results contribute to the scientific basis essential for sound management.

Related objectives include: creating a fish baseline to measure marine protected area (MPA) effectiveness; monitoring size-frequency of fish assemblages; assessing the status of target, indicator or keystone species; assessing responses by fish communities to possible ecosystem impacts (e.g., fishing, ecotourism, pollution, habitat damage, sedimentation, hurricanes); and assessing species composition and diversity, by area, and the effectiveness of long-term monitoring of managed areas.