Underwater dive surveys taken place at various locations showing abundance and diversity of marine life from 2014 and onwards

Biannual underwater dive surveys carried out in summer (April) and winter (October) at 13 sites the Leeward side of the Island covering a range of habitats and depths. Longterm monitoring started in April 2014 to gather information about changes in abundance and distribution of fish and invertebrate species and benthic cover over a 50m transect. Habitat information and photo quadrats were also gathered during each survey. An expanded survey carried out in April and October 2021 to incude 12 sites on the windward side.

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	June 24, 2025, 05:49 (PDT)
Created	June 24, 2025, 05:49 (PDT)
Region	Saint Helena
Language	eng
Topic Category	Biota; flora and/or fauna in natural environment
Temporal Extent Start	2014
Temporal Extent End	2014
Dataset Reference Date	2021
Lineage	Four divers formed the survey team. The first pair of divers swam and marked with tape measure a 50 metre transect each counting one side of the tape measure all invertebrates and small benthic fish found within a one metre belt. The second pair of divers followed behind and took photo quadrats (0.5sqm) every 2 metres. Once all divers at the end of the tape measure, the first pair of divers returned down the lenght of the tape measure counting on each side all other species of fish in a 5 metres belt. The data recorded consist of: date, site code, start and end depth, habitat types (classified according JNCC habitat form. The habitat type is the predominant habitat found along the 50 metre transect), species list and count.
West Longitude	-5.789
South Latitude	-16.029
East Longitude	-5.637
North Latitude	-15.907
Spatial Reference System	EPSG:4326
Responsible Organisation Name	Hidden (personal data protection)
Contact Mail Address	Hidden (personal data protection)
Responsible Party Role	Hidden (personal data protection)
Access Limitations	Restricted, data environmentally sensitive, however data is open to researchers on the basis of a research agreement
Use Constraints	Restricted, but open subject to limitations and prior agreement with responsible organisation. Copyright must be cited
Resource Reference	Restricted, but open subject to prior agreement with responsible organisation. Cite copyright: © St Helena Government, Environmental Managament Division, Marine Conservation Section
Data Format	excel, PNG
Update Frequency	biannually
Accuracy	Tape measure: +/- 1m
Resource Type	Dataset
Original Title	Hidden (internal use only)
Metadata Date	30/06/2021
Metadata Point of Contact	datamanager@saeri.ac.fk
Unique Resource ID	SH-SHG-277