2005 Rose Site 13P

Underwater Site 13P was established off Rose Atoll, American Samoa by Dr. James Maragos, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, on August 25, 1999. The site was originally called Site G and later renamed Site 13P. With a start point (meter 0) at latitude 14 32.946S longitude 168 09.584W, a series of metal stakes were pounded into the substrate to delineate a 51-meter line that could be relocated and reassessed on future surveys. The site was relocated and resurveyed on June 22, 2005. A fiberglass tape was unrolled along the line marked by the stakes and a series of photographs was taken of the benthos in consecutive 1-meter-square (1m x 1m) quadrats, using an Olympus 5050Z digital camera in an underwater housing. The overall goal was to acquire data from the photographs and analyze and present quantitative data in a manner to be useful for scientists and refuge management. Each image is labeled with a 3-letter location code (ROS), date (22Jun05), site number (13P), and the distal end of the meter-interval along the transect line (e.g., (1) = between meters 0 and 1; (5) = between meters 4 and 5). Quantitative analysis of the photoquadrats has not been completed.