SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey Data

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. The reef fish survey is conducted primarily on the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico along topographic features (e.g. reefs, banks and ledges) between Brownsville, TX to the Dry Tortugas, FL. A two-stage sampling design is used with the first stage or primary sampling units being blocks 10 minutes of latitude by 10 minutes of longitude and the second stage being randomly selected sites within the blocks. The first-stage units are selected by stratified random sampling, with stratum boundaries defined by geographic region (4 regions: South Florida, Northeast Gulf, Louisiana-Texas Shelf, and South Texas), and by reef habitat area (Blocks < 20 km² reef, Blocks > 20 km² reef). Sampling is conducted using a video camera array, vertical line gear and chevron traps with approximately 400 video cameras, 400 vertical line and 100 traps conducted.

To provide abundance and distribution information on Gulf of Mexico reef fish for use in regional stock assessments.

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Validation routines are applied during data entry to ensure the integrity of data collected. Data validation routines are also applied as data are migrated into the centralized data management system.