The U.S. Virgin Islands are surrounded by diverse and economically important marine environments. Like many near shore marine environments around the world, the coral reefs and other habitats of the Virgin Islands are susceptible to natural disturbances such as hurricanes as well as the negative impacts from human activities. Long-term monitoring studies are the best ways of tracking the condition of coral reefs and separating the effects of human versus natural disturbances. To effectively manage and maintain these important environments, the government of the Virgin Islands in coordination with federal agencies and the University of the Virgin Islands has implemented long-term coral reef monitoring and assessment programs dedicated to sustainable use of these resources. The intent of these projects is to establish the status of the coral reefs in the Virgin Islands and determine the effectiveness of management plans. The Center for Marine and Environmental Studies is currently monitoring reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of the Territorial Biological Monitoring Program and the State and Territory Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Program. These studies are funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the VI Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

Due to time and other constraints while scuba diving, video monitoring techniques offer distinct advantages to other non-photographic reef monitoring techniques. Specifically, video monitoring allows divers to sample larger areas of the reef in less time. Identification and analysis by trained researchers take place on land, without the constraints of scuba diving. Digital video data also offers a visual representation of the sampled area that can be archived and shared electronically with other researchers throughout the world. CMES uses a digital video camera in an underwater housing to tape six 10 m transects at each site. Images from the tapes are transferred to computer, where software applications are used to quantify coral diversity and the percent benthic cover of corals, algae, and other organisms. Divers also perform surveys to document coral bleaching and disease and resident fish populations. The use of video monitoring techniques as well as enriched air diving has allowed CMES to monitor and assess reefs within depth ranges (25 - 45 m) that previously prohibited this type of data collection by SCUBA divers.

The year 3 report from "The State and Territory Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Program" is availble for downloading below. The document is approximately 2.2 MB and is in Abobe Acrobat format. Right click on the link and use "save as target link" to download to your computer.

Virgin Islands Coral Reef Video Monitoring Report.pdf