National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessment of coral reef fish communities in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Data provided in this data set were collected around the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) as part of NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)-led missions in collaboration with partners at the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southeast Fisheries Science Center, the National Park Service, USVI Department of Planning and Natural Resources, University of the Virgin Islands, University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, The Nature Conservancy, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2013 and 2015 the Belt Transect method was used to conduct fish surveys in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) as part of the ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). The Belt Transect method collects and reports information on fish species composition, density, size, abundance and derived metrics (e.g., species richness, diversity). Surveys were concurrent with and along the same transect as the Line Point-Intercept (LPI) benthic survey. Starting in 2017 fish data were collected using the stationary point count method. This method collects and reports information on fish species composition, density, size structure, abundance and derived metrics (e.g., species richness, diversity).