The video lander is a stationary, underwater camera system used to target benthic fish communities on rocky reefs. The video lander is deployed for approximately eight minutes of video collection at a time. Video from lander deployments(hereafter called ‘drops’) are quality controlled using established criteria for visibility (water clarity), view (visible camera angle), and benthic habitat type. Usable video is then reviewed to identify all fish to species or species groups and estimate the relative abundance for all fishes observed.
Lander sampling began at the Redfish Rocks in 2010, two years before harvest restrictions began. Sampling is conducted in the marine reserve and its associated comparison areas, Humbug and Orford Reef (see methods Appendix for additional information about comparison area selection). We sampled at these sites over several years, with varied levels of success in achieving usable data - data that met requirements for view, visibility, and benthic habitat type (rocky substrates). These efforts results in six years of usable data for our analysis and inclusion in the synthesis report.
Data from lander monitoring efforts can be used to explore questions about fish relative abundance from a non-extractive, fisheries-independent tool used elsewhere in Oregon and the US West Coast. We can use metrics for diversity and community composition derived from these data to compare across monitoring tools, to understand tool bias, or to validate trends in relative abundance observed across tools. Data on relative abundance also enables us to explore how fish communities change over time; and whether these changes are similar both inside the reserve and outside in comparison areas. For all data our main focus is exploring trends by site and year.