Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

It is widely documented that reef fish populations are declining on a global scale as a result of habitat loss and degradation, pollution, over fishing, and lack of management and enforcement. Efforts to document fish assemblages are being conducted around the globe to determine the current state of reefs and identify the anthropogenic factors that affect reef health. Numerous academic, government, and non-government institutions incorporate a variety of visual census methods into their monitoring programs. Methods vary depending on multiple factors including the research question being asked, the species’ ecology, spatial distribution of species of interest, environment being studied, and the suitability of the method to the research program. As such, the results obtained from each method are oftentimes incomparable due to the spatial and temporal scales adopted by each method. Though a wide variety of methods are currently being used, three methods seem to be the most prevalent within the research community to survey reef fishes: the belt transect, stationary point count, and timed visual assessment methods. The purpose of this project was to provide the research community with a holistic view of the work that was being done around the world, and to gather their opinions on the topic of standardizing methodologies. The project was also aimed to act as a catalyst to build momentum and generate discussion among the research community towards a solution to this issue