Reef Fish Research Across the Pacific: an overview of the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division’s

Fish TEAM

Jill Zamzow, PhD Senior Reef Fish Researcher

Photo: NOAA/CRED library, Paula Ayotte, Alamagan Island r. Ivor Williams, “Da Boss”

Photo Darla White DAR ylyn McCoy Paula Ayotte Kevin Lino Photo: Paula Ayotte Dr. Adel Heenan Jake Asher Andrew Gray

Photo: Paula Ayotte Dr. Kelvin Gorospe MP: Reef Assessment & Monitoring Program

FISH TEAM BENTHIC TEAM INSTRUMENTATION TEAM TOW TEAM ECOSPATIAL INFORMATION TEAM Mapping/GIS/Data

Photo: Kevin Lino here We Work:

YOU ARE HERE Survey Platforms – Hi‘ialakai & Oscar Elton Sette A day in the life… Photo: Ray Boland

Photo: Ray Boland

o: Jill Zamzow

Team REA Methods – Fish & Benthos

5‐30 sites per island, with larger N at more populated/larger islands t: 5‐6 sites/boat/day Photo: Jake Asher Photo: Jason Kehn Photo: Ray Boland ES: ALWAYS LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER AT WORK

Photo: Darla White d-Diver Surveys

50 min. tows, ~2 km x 10m wide, ~15‐20m depth Counts: #, size, ID of fishes > 50 cm total length Continuous: salinity, depth, temperature, GIS Data recorded per 5 min “segment” of tow Stereo‐video technology

oints visible in both cameras are accurately placed in a 3D (X,Y,Z) coordinate system. o: Jake Asher ote Underwater Video (RUV), or Baited RUVs = BRUVs

m, au

ereo‐Video = Accurate, precise sizing eeper surveys (> 30m) iver‐independent surveys me consuming analysis (go, Jake, go!!) urvey design Hawaii Sampling Design

BER OF SURVEYS PER YEAR BY REGION

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013-15

67 72 66 177 354 400*

73 57 186 194 163 850*

58 63 62 57 64 117 147 182 118 141 180

30 34 48 80 138 179 274

43 59 62 113 282 253 400* easing N is due to: more trained divers switch to stratified‐random and SPC intensive shore‐based missions dedicated reef fish survey cruises mated Graphic courtesy Mary Donovan, UH sults/Products: Photo: ???

Photo: Jason Leonard

Photo: Jill Zamzow RAMP Results – Fish Biomass By Consumer Group

sistent survey methods, design & personnel allow for meaningful comparison in islands, regions, archipelagoes, and at Pacific‐wide scales S I D E

P R O J E C T S Reef Fish Survey (RFS) Cruises ng Sept 2012, PIFSC‐NMFS supports “Reef Fish Survey” cruises (fish REA & BRUV) MHI 09/12; possibly 25‐day MHI 09/14 increased n => lowered CV and ability to generate size distributions for rare stuff Example data overview: MHI September 2012 cruise, n=163 sites

9/ 3/ 12 W. Maui, Ka' anapali t o Kihei, 16 f ish sur veys and 7 unbai t ed BRUVs sites. We encount er ed a l ot of Halimeda beds t hat wer e supposed 2-07 t o be r eefs, so i t slowed us down some. The 35- 40 kt wi nds acr oss t he 1-13, 2012 saddle of Maui and hence acr oss Ma' al aea Bay also made f or i nt er est ing boat i ng and di vi ng condi t i ons. Ever yone per f or med well and we made i t t hr ough unscat hed. Chief Scientist 9/ 4/ 12 Sout h and West Lanai , 15 f ish sur veys, and even mor e scr ubbed si t es due t o Halimeda wher e t he maps said t her e shoul d be r eef. Also some pr et t y snot t y wi ndy condit i ons and heavy st eep chop on t he sout h si de. 7 unbait ed BRUVs sites, 2 also done baited.

9/ 5/ 12 Decided t o l aunch of f East Maui , had 20 kt s of wi nd. Thought we coul d sneak t he l aunches in dur i ng t he mor ni ng cal m. Oopsie. By t he t ime St eel t oe hi t t he wat er , i t was 35- 40 kt s sust ained, unsaf e f or f ur t her launches. No si gn of l et t i ng up, so we st eamed down t o La Per ouse t o f i nd a lee, wit h t he int r epid St eelt oe BRUVs t eam avoi di ng some of t he chop and slop by r i di ng i n t he shi p' s wake (evidence at t ached). Aft er ~2h cr uisi ng at 11 kt s downwi nd i n t he shi p, we launched i n calm wat er s and managed t o get 10 sur veys and 4 BRUVs sit es done i n a l i t t l e over a hal f day' s wor k.

9/ 6/ 12 (today): West Mol okai, onl y 10-15 kt s of wi nd and shor t t r ansit s lead to a record 18 f i sh sur veys compl et ed, as wel l as 7 BRUVs sites, 2 also done bait ed. Ther e wer e some sur pr isi ngl y ni ce f ish communi t ies, bi g sur geons and par r ot s and t er mi nal Hawai i an hogf ish, despit e t he f act t hat we wer e di vi ng on pavement wi t h ver y l i t t l e r el ief. Most ly it was wonder f ul t o have onl y 10-15 kt s of wind and no r ai n squalls - coul d actually warm up bet ween di ves.

surveys, 352 person-dives, and 30,863 fishes counted. Not bad for 11.5 days.

TITLE

Photo: Jack Randall

Si e (m) ning & Quality Control utine Size Estimation Training Using Fish Models Estimation Test Results observer (Buddy‐buddy) comparisons:

10 ●●●●● ●

9 ●●● ● ●●

8 ●

7

6 ● ●●●

Diver 5 ●●●●●●● ●

4

3 ●

2 ●●●● ●

1 ●●● ●

50 25 0 25 50 TOW

Towed Diver Data to Reconstruct Reef Shark Baselines ark densities near population centers <10% of modeled density without humans productivity also very important wed-Diver Surveys ay – Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument

Tow methods paper: Richards et al, 2011, PLOS ONE 7(2): e31374

Boat ramp

Puakō

ay 30

Puako 1979‐81 ) 25 2 m

Puako 2007‐08 100

Pauoa 1979‐81 20

per Pauoa 2007‐08

(fish

15

10 Abundance

5

0 Acanthurus nigrofuscus Ctenochaetus strigosus Zebrasoma flavescens Kealakekua Bay e‘ei & Walsh) mano Point bson basalt)

= ~4.5 km

onaunau bson & DAR)

unau” Boulder transect DAR Honaunau Chaetodon multicinctus (Boulders) 44 DAR Honaunau Chaetodon multicinctus (P. lobata) Walsh Ke'ei Chaetodon multicinctus (P. compressa & P. lobata & rubble)40 DAR Honaunau Chaetodon multicinctus (P. compressa & lobata) Hobson Honaunau Chaetodon multicinctus (P. lobata) 36 Hobson Palemano Pt. Chaetodon multicinctus (basalt) 32 Hobson Ke'ei Chaetodon multicinctus (P. compressa) minutes

28 40

per

24 2 m

20 100

per 16

12 counts

8 Hobson 4

0 10 DAR WHAP Honaunau site (P. compressa) DAR Honaunau (P. lobata) DAR Honaunau (P. compressa & P. lobata) 9 Walsh Ke'ei (P. compressa & P. lobata & rubble) Hobson Honaunau (P. lobata) 8 Hobson Honaunau pre‐1985 (P. lobata) Hobson Ke'ei (P. compressa) mins

Hobson Palemano Pt. (basalt) 7 40

per

6 2 100m 5 per

4 counts

3

2 Hobson

1

0 75 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Year DAR Honaunau (P. lobata) C. potteri DAR WHAP (P. compressa) Roi DAR Honaunau (P. lobata) Roi 4 Walsh Ke'ei (mixed) C. potteri 10 Hobson Honaunau (P. lobata) Roi Hobson Honaunau (P. lobata) C. potteri 9

8 SE) mins

3 +/

40

7 per 2

(mean 6 m

100m 2 5 100

per

per 4

counts 3 1 2 Abundance Hobson

1

0 0 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Year 4 DAR WHAP Honaunau site (P. 10 compressa) DAR Honaunau (P. lobata) 9 3.5 DAR Honaunau (P. compressa & P. lobata) Walsh Ke'ei (boulders) 8 3 Hobson Honaunau (P. lobata) mins

Hobson Honaunau pre‐1985 (P. lobata) 7 40

2.5 per

6 2 100m 2 5 per

4 1.5 counts

3 1

2 Hobson

0.5 1

0 0 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 Years of Jill’s Lifetime Walsh Ke'ei (mixed) Z. flavescens DAR Honaunau (boulders) Z. flavescens DAR Honaunau (P. lobata) Z. flavescens DAR WHAP sites (P. compressa) Z. flavescens Hobson Honauanau (P. lobata) Z. flavescens Hobson Ke'ei (P. compressa & lobata) Z. flavescens 140 Hobson Palemano Pt. (basalt) Z. flavescens mins) DAR Honaunau (P. compressa & lobata) Z. flavescens 40 120 per 2 100 100m

per 80 (fish

60 counts

40 Hobson

20

0 4 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 Year

Photo: Jill Zamzow EXTRA SLIDES FOLLOW DAR Honaunau Mullidae (P. compressa & P. lobata) DAR Honaunau Scaridae (P. compressa & P. lobata) Walsh Ke'ei (mixed) Scaridae 35 Walsh Ke'ei (mixed) Mullidae Hobson Honaunau Scaridae (P. lobata) Hobson Honaunau Mullidae (P. lobata) 30

25 mins

40

per 20 2 100m

per 15 counts

10 Hobson

5

0 Walsh Ke'ei Gomphosus varius DAR Honaunau Gomphosus varius Hobson Honaunau Gomphosus varius 12

10 mins

40

8 per 2 100m

per 6 counts

4 Hobson

2

0 74 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 DAR Honaunau Forcipiger spp. (P. compressa & lobata) Walsh Ke'ei Forcipiger spp. (P. compressa & P. lobata & rubble) DAR Honaunau Forcipiger spp. (Boulders) Hobson Honaunau Forcipiger spp. (P. lobata) Hobson Ke'ei Forcipiger spp. (P. compressa) Hobson Palemano Pt. Forcipiger spp. (basalt) 10 minutes

8 40

per 2 m

6 100

per

4 counts

2 Hobson

0 mass Estimates (0-30m hardbottom) ican Samoa

Area 0‐30 m ESTIMATED POPULATION BIOMASS (kg) hardbottom (n) (Ha) Emperor Goatfish Grouper Jack Parrotfish1 Reef Shark

(171) 4,888 42,513 20,678 43,491 25,614 271,926 7,111

(36) 1,003 8,575 3,191 27,534 5,399 60,795 2,929 ega (43) 1,055 8,339 2,674 25,310 9,304 86,402 10,354

(61) 558 4,087 2,411 10,307 8,597 13,142 14,682

(41) 281 1,055 293 7,580 10,033 5,450 4,154 (352) 7,785 64,569 29,246 114,222 58,947 437,716 39,231

Squirrel/ Rudderfish Snapper Soldierfish Wrasse1 Surgeonfish Others Total Fish Bio 2,011 62,463 14,870 53,262 497,952 577,177 1,619,068 4,705 29,547 11,921 17,378 111,952 90,894 374,821 osega 1,945 39,932 10,451 13,375 154,103 103,852 466,038 29 12,534 6,262 10,167 24,203 21,669 128,091 26 9,008 2,218 3,843 18,870 65,524 128,056 8,716 153,484 45,721 98,025 807,079 859,116 2,716,074 ngths & Limitations of CRED RAMP fish data for Development & Status Assessment ths de spatial coverage & consistent methods, design, observers ta are representative of broad target domain (hard‐bottom < 30m) h data paired with benthic and GIS data asonable data quality on common taxa when pooled at larger scales e distributions from visual surveys offer potential for length‐based assessment of stock tus

ions ta gathered by SCUBA Depth limited to 30m Potential fish‐behavior impacts from divers’ presence ytime surveys. Nocturnally active taxa undercounted (soldierfish) rdbottom habitat only n‐trivial gaps in habitat & bathymetric data at some locations ited replication Sheer size of some regions relative to sampling density (NWHI, MHI) Heavily clumped, rare, or very narrowly distributed species not well counted ating Population Sizes to Support Reef Fish Assessments Atoll Example

• 27 sites 2008; 34 in 2010; 48 in 2012 • SPC give biomass density per strata • Habitat/bathymetric data give area per strata mass Estimates (0-30m hardbottom) ple: Surgeonfish, Rose Atoll

Mean Biomass density Estimated Zone (# survey sites) Depth Area (‘000 m2) (gm‐2) Biomass (kg) n (2) 0‐6 m 53.8 5.35 288 (4) 6‐18 m 100.6 1.79 180 eef (9) 0‐6 m 3,660.9 2.42 8,853 6‐18 m 240.7 2.421 582 18‐30 m 10.7 2.421 26 eef (13) 0‐6 m 60.8 13.00 791 (19) 6‐18 m 827.2 11.79 9,755 (14) 18‐30 m 214.2 10.05 2,153 0‐6 m 419.0 2.421 1,013 nel 0‐6 m9.3 13.002 121 6‐18 m 31.3 11.792 369 18‐30 m7.2 10.052 73 ROSE ATOLL TOTAL (kg) 24,203

ckreef shallow density estimate used for all backreef & crest strata; rereef density estimates used for channel areas.

Photos: Jill Zamzow