National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of coral reef fish communities in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary from 2018-06-11 to 2018-06-14 (NCEI Accession 0208240)

The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) assessed coral reef fish communities at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) in the Gulf of Mexico using the stationary point count method (7.5m radius cylinder). This method collects and reports information on species composition, density, size structure, abundance and derived metrics (e.g., species richness, diversity). Data are collected using a 2-stage, stratified random survey design in hardbottom and coral reef habitats less than 30m in depth. Three datasets are provided under the stationary point count fish protocols and are distributed as one compiled package: (1) Analysis Ready dataset, (2) raw QAQC’d sample data files, and (3) Boatlog/Station dataset. The methodology used for this survey can be found in the point count fish protocols. All datasets contain data fields on general station information (e.g., survey strata, depth, rugosity). Each of these data tables contain additional survey-specific data fields. For complete information and descriptions of attributes and data fields for all data tables, refer to the data dictionaries.