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Coral reef ecosystem marine protected area monitoring in Fagamalo, American Samoa: benthic images collected during belt transect surveys in 2015

Metadata Updated: March 16, 2024

In 2010 the village of Fagamalo, Tutuila, American Samoa, designated a no-take Marine Protected Area that sees the protection of 2.25 square kilometers of ocean. Because little is known regarding the status of living marine communities in the area, and at the request of the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, NOAA scientists conducted surveys to assess the status of the benthic communities and establish a baseline against which to compare temporal change.

The data described here were collected via belt transect surveys of coral demography (adult and juvenile corals) by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) according to protocols established by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP). In 2015 data were collected at 18 stratified randomly selected sites. These data include photoquadrat benthic images. Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0146681. These photos have been analyzed for benthic cover (documented separately). Data from coral demographic surveys, including 1) an assessment of coral colony density and size-class distribution, 2) an assessment of coral recruitment, and 3) an evaluation of coral colony mortality, disease, and bleaching, were also collected for the selected monitoring sites and are also documented separately by CREP.

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Date February 29, 2024
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date March 16, 2024
Reference Date(s) 2016 (publication)
Frequency Of Update notPlanned

Metadata Source

Harvested from NMFS PIFSC

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date February 29, 2024
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date March 16, 2024
Reference Date(s) 2016 (publication)
Responsible Party (Point of Contact, Custodian)
Contact Email
Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:31223
Access Constraints Cite As: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, [Date of Access]: Coral reef ecosystem marine protected area monitoring in Fagamalo, American Samoa: benthic images collected during belt transect surveys in 2015 [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/31223., Access Constraints: None, Use Constraints: Please cite NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) when using the data. Example Cite as: Vargas-Angel, Bernardo; Coral Reef Ecosystem Program; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2016). Coral reef ecosystem marine protected area monitoring in Fagamalo, American Samoa: benthic images collected during belt transect surveys in 2015. Unpublished Dataset. [access date], Distribution Liability: While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.
Bbox East Long -170.79879018
Bbox North Lat -14.28060332
Bbox South Lat -14.29253127
Bbox West Long -170.81195363
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update notPlanned
Harvest Object Id 6b1416d6-563f-4c1e-9b40-007028dab810
Harvest Source Id c0beac72-5f43-4455-8c33-1b345fbc2dfe
Harvest Source Title NMFS PIFSC
Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
Lineage Benthic photographs were collected during belt transect surveys of corals by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) following the same protocol to that established by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP).
Metadata Language eng
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-170.81195363, -14.29253127], [-170.79879018, -14.29253127], [-170.79879018, -14.28060332], [-170.81195363, -14.28060332], [-170.81195363, -14.29253127]]]}
Progress completed
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System
Spatial Harvester True
Temporal Extent Begin 2015-10-26
Temporal Extent End 2015-11-13

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