Dataset: Fish Flight Initiation Distance Data

Name: Fish Flight Initiation Distance Data During the COVID 19 Lockdown from 2020-2021 (Galapagos diver disturbance project)
Published: 2023-10-17
Keywords: fish flight response, scuba diver disturbance, COVID lockdown, oceans

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Spatial Extent: N:-0.236963 E:90.68595 S:-1.32879 W:90.14065

Temporal Extent: 2020-10-10 - 2021-08-31

Project:

RAPID: Illuminating the effects of a COVID-19 elimination of diver disturbance on reef fish behavior, distribution and ecosystem functioning in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (Galapagos diver disturbance)

Principal Investigator:

Jon D. Witman (Brown University)

Scientist:

Robert Lamb (Brown University)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Sawyer Newman (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2023-10-17

Restricted:

Validated:

Current State:

Preliminary and in progress

Fish Flight Initiation Distance Data During the COVID 19 Lockdown from 2020-2021 (Galapagos diver disturbance project)

Abstract:

The effect of changing levels of scuba diver disturbance, from a low during the 2020 COVID 19 lockdown to normal levels a year later (2021) was measured to test the hypothesis that fish would be less wary when during the lockdown. The Flight Initiation Distance (FID) data, reported here in meters indicate how close a diver can approach an individual fish before it swims away (flees). 2,151 measurements of FID are reported here for a diverse array of reef fish and shark species at sites in the central Galapagos Islands. These data were collected by Dr.s Robert Lamb and Franz Smith in collaboration with PI Jon Witman.

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Methods & Sampling

The FID measurements were obtained by the following procedure conducted by an individual diver working at 10-15 m depth. 1) a target fish to measure the proximity that a diver could approach before the fish swam away (flight) was identified. 2) the diver dropped a small weight ion the bottom to mark the start of his approach. 3) the diver swam straight at the target fish noting the bottom features where the fish first started to swim away 4) the diver dropped another weight at this location 5) the distance between the 2 weights was measured as FID with a meter tape. The body size (total length) was estimated of the target fish was recorded.

Data Processing Description

No sophisticated methods of data processing were noted by the author.

BCO-DMO Processing

Units removed from column names

Spaces in column names replaced with underscores ("_")

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-2035354

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

None available yet

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
Observation_ID	ID number for each observation in dataset	unitless	individual
Site	Name of study site in central Galapagos	unitless	site
Date	Date that measurement of Flight Initiation Distance (FID) was made Format: %Y-%m-%d	unitless	date
Species_Name	Name of reef fish species measured for Flight Initiation Distance (FID)	unitless	species
Total_Body_Length	Total body length (cm) of fish measured for Flight Initiation Distance (FID)	centimeters (cm)	fish_len
Distance_diver_was_from_start_point	Distance diver was from start point of the transect	meters (m)	len_track
Distance_to_fish_at_start_of_flight	Distance along transect when fish began to flee	meters (m)	len_track
Flight_Initiation_Distance	Distance between start point and start of fish flight	meters (m)	len_track

Database

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Dataset: Fish Flight Initiation Distance Data