
#CONTRIBUTOR(S), INSTITUTE(S), CONTACT INFORMATION:
Dr. Ivor D. Williams
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)
Coral Reef Ecosystem Divsion (CRED)
1125B Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814
808-983-3727
ivor.williams@noaa.gov

Dr. Celia M. Smith
Botany Department
University of Hawaii at Manoa
3190 Maile Way, Room 101
Honolulu, HI 96822
808-956-6947
celia@hawaii.edu

Dr. Charles Birkeland
Hawaii Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, USGS
Zoology Department, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Edmonton 164
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
808-956-8350
charlesbirkeland@hotmail.com

#ORIGINATOR(S), INSTITUTE(S), CONTACT INFORMATION:
same

#TITLE: 
Kahekili, West Maui, Hawaii Fish and Benthic Data from Surveys in January 
and August 2008 

#ABSTRACT: 
Fish and benthos baseline surveys were made at 155 sites of the near shore 
region off Kahekili Beach Park, West Maui in January and August, 2008.  Survey
sites were grouped into six broad habitat categories, and herbivore biomass in
a range of functional groups was calculated per habitat category.

Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resource (HDAR) is currently working to establish a
Herbivore Fisheries Management Area (HFMA) [n.b. previously titled as
Kahekili Ecosystem Recovery Area] encompassing reef areas adjacent to Kahekili
Beach park in West Maui. The goal of the proposed HFMA is to increase the
reef's capacity to resist a phase shift from coral to macroalgal domination
by prohibiting the take of herbivorous fish and sea-urchins.

Fish surveys were performed by scientists of HDAR and the Hawaii Cooperative
Fishery Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii (UH).  Benthic
surveys were conducted by scientists of the Department of Botany, UH.

#PURPOSE:  
The aims of this project were to provide survey design, analytical, and other
scientific support to staff of Hawaii DAR to: (1) assist with the design and
implementation of a statistically- and scientifically-valid baseline of
pre-HFMA establishment conditions on the Kahekili reef; and (2) utilize new
and existing data generated by HDAR and partners, from survey programs in Maui
and elsewhere, to draw broader conclusions about the relationships between
local herbivore stocks and benthic algal communities (particularly in terms of
reefs' vulnerability to macroalgal overgrowth).

#PROJECT:
Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative: 2008, An Ecosystem Recovery Area in Maui
Coastal Waters: Kahekili

#FUNDING:
Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative, Grant NA07NOS4000193

#ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
HDAR: Russell Sparks, John Mitchell, Kristy Wong
Dept. Botany, UH: Meghan Dailer, Darla White, Robin Knox, Hailey Ramey, 
                  Mark Vermeij, Iuri Hezfeld

#LOCATION EXTREMES:
SOUTHERNMOST LATITUDE:  20.93593
SOUTHERNMOST LATITUDE HEMISPHERE: N
NORTHERNMOST LATITUDE:  20.95164 
NORTHERNMOST LATITUDE HEMISPHERE: N
WESTERNMOST LONGITUDE: 156.696
WESTERNMOST LONGITUDE HEMISPHERE: W 
EASTERNMOST LONGITUDE: 156.693
EASTERNMOST LONGITUDE HEMISPHERE: W  

#LOCATION KEYWORDS: 
North Pacific, Hawaii, Maui, Kahekili

#SAMPLING STATIONS: 
see data/1-data/Kahkili_Survey_Data_for_NOAA_NODC_Site_Coordinates.csv

#BEGIN AND END DATES: 
YYYYMMDD
20080122 - 20080821

#SAMPLING PERIODS:
see data/1-data/Kahkili_Survey_Data_for_NOAA_NODC_Site_Coordinates.csv

#PARAMETERS: 
Benthos:
depth
Habitat
percent Porites Compressa
percent CCA (crustose coralline algae)
percent coral
percent sand and limestone
percent macroalgae
percent turf
percent rubble

Fish:
SpeciesCode
Family
Taxa Size (cm)
number

#METHODOLOGY:
Fish Surveys:
Surveys were haphazardly located on hardbottom areas within the proposed
Kahekili ERA boundaries with the aim of broadly covering the full extent of
the area and with adequate replication within different habitat zones. 
Surveys were conducted from a small boat. Survey teams comprising two
divers each were haphazardly dropped over hardbottom areas throughout the
proposed HFMA. The divers would then swim straight down to the nearest
suitable habitat (hardbottom large enough to lay a survey transect in); one of
the survey divers tied of the starting point of the survey transect and the
other recorded the transect start location using a GPS in a waterproof bag
attached to a float. As much as possible, surveys were always run parallel to
the shoreline running approximately northwards, and in all cases a transect
bearing was taken by one divers. In total 155 surveys were conducted
throughout the proposed HFMA.

Survey transects were of 25m length. One of the divers conducted fish surveys
using methods closely based on those used by NOAA-CRED throughout the state of
Hawaii (so data would be comparable with larger-scale data sets): species,
number and size (in 5cm slots) was recorded for all fishes larger 15 cm total
length (TL) within a 4-m wide belt centered on the diver as they laid out the
25 m transect tape. The diver would then turn around and resurvey the transect
line, recording species, number and size of all fishes smaller than 15 cm TL
in a 2m wide belt centered on the transect line.
                                                                                 
The other survey diver followed the fish survey diver, and conducted a photo
quadrat survey of the benthos under the transect line, and then recorded all
sea-urchins with a 1m-wide belt, during a return swim down the transect line.

Additional details available in: 
data/1-data/FY07_HCRI-NOAA_Report_Ivor_Williams_Kahekili.pdf

Benthic Surveys:
Surveys were conducted in January and August 2008 to establish a baseline of
herbivorous fish, sea urchin, and benthic composition for the Kahekili HEA. In
January and August a total of 89 and 69, respectively, 25m transects 
were surveyed for herbivore populations and benthic composition. In January
the sites were distributed with replicate sites within 3 depth ranges as
follows: 1.5-3m (n= 30; shallow fore reef), 4-8m (n= 40; mid-depth fore reef)
and 8.5 -10m (n= 19; deep fore reef). 

Benthic surveys were comprised of 17 random photoquads (0.5m x 1.0m) per 25m 
transect (1,513 and 1,173 total photoquads in January and August respectively).
The photoquads from the January survey were analyzed with PhotoGrid software
with 50 random points per picture which were identified by substrata (i.e.
turf, limestone, sand, coral rubble, and basalt) or systematically (i.e. genus
species for coral, algae, and sea urchins); the data are currently presented
as percent of functional group (turf algae, algae, other, urchins,
invertebrates, sand, crustose coralline algae (CCA) and coral) per site.

#INSTRUMENT TYPES:
SCUBA
transect tape
underwater camera

#REFERENCES: 
none

#SUBMITTING MEDIUM:
email

#DIRECTORY ORGANIZATION, FILE NAMES AND FORMATS:
Directory data/0-data/ contains the files as acquired from the originators.
                                                                                  
Directories and files in 0-data/
File: Kahkili Survey Data for NOAA NODC.xlsx
Format: MS Office Excel 2007
Content: In-situ data for Benthic and Fish Surveys and Site Coordinates
Columns: self-explanatory

File: FY07_HCRI-NOAA_Report_Ivor_Williams_Kahekili.doc
Format: MS Office Word 97 - 2003 Document
Content: Final Project Report acquired from Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative
         Author: Ivor Williams
         Focus: Fish surveys

File: Smith-FY07-HCRI-NOAA-Final-Report.pdf
Format: Adobe Acrobat PDF/A
Content: Final Project Report acquired from Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative
         Author: Celia Smith
         Focus: benthic surveys

Directory data/1-data/ contains files created by NODC.

The Excel file, Kahkili Survey Data for NOAA NODC.xlsx, was exported to
comma-separated version (CSV) format.  One file was made for each sheet.
The filename is the original file suffixed with the sheet name, and
all blanks are replaced by underscores "_".  These files are:

Kahkili_Survey_Data_for_NOAA_NODC_Benthic_Data.csv
Kahkili_Survey_Data_for_NOAA_NODC_Fish_Data.csv
Kahkili_Survey_Data_for_NOAA_NODC_Site_Coordinates.csv

The data are self-described in the column headers.  

Note: Code in "...Fish_Data.csv":
Four letter codes are used that consist of the first two letters of the Family name 
followed by the first two letters of the Taxa name. 

Note: in "...Site_Coordinates.csv", the latitude position is in error for
Order 77, replace "22" with "20".

#DATASET SIZE:
4400 kbytes

#NUMBER OF DATA UNITS:
155 sites

#MISCELLANEOUS:
