Abstract:

Acoustic scattering data of reef associated fishes were collected across natural and artificial reef habitats from Cape San Blas, Florida to Pensacola, Florida during the summer of 2017. Multi-frequency acoustic backscatter were recorded with Simrad EK80 echosounder to measure the relative abundance of reef fishes associated with these habitats to help derive fishery-independent indices of abundance of dominant species. Data will be compared with ROV data collected during these surveys.

Suggested Citation:

Kevin Boswell, William Patterson, Savannah LaBua. 2018. Raw acoustic scattering data from the northwestern Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico - 19-23 May, 27-29 August, 18-25 September 2017. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7P849B3

Purpose:

Data collected will be used to interpret species assemblage and community structure on both artificial and natural reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Data Parameters and Units:

Dataset contains *.raw files of acoustic scattering data from EK80 at 3 frequencies (38 kHz, 70 kHz and 120 kHz) and coordinates. This dataset also contains the .xml calibration files representing the results. The file structure is divided by reefs and site names. "HC03" is a survey site. The folder structure is as follows: Month > Survey Site > .raw files for that station. The folder "Aug 17" represents the month surveyed and the year. The dates of August 27-29 found within the station folders are days of that month data were collected. Data were collected during the following research cruises: Backdown2 05/19/2017-05/20/2017, Backdown2 05/22/2017, Backdown2 08/27/2017-08/30/2017, Intimidator 09/18/2017-09/21/2017, and Backdown2 09/24/2017-09/25/2017.

Instruments:

Machines used include: 38 kHz transducer and corresponding general purpose transceiver (GPT) 70 kHz transducer and corresponding wide-band transceiver (WBT) 120 kHz transducer and corresponding wide-band transceiver (WBT)

Individual Files: