Benthic Ecological Surveys Data Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar

The BES methodology was developed by WCS to bridge a critical gap in data collection tools for benthic substrates, specifically targeting scales between approximately 10 km² and 100 km². This boat-based survey utilizes a photo-quadrat method, deploying a GoPro camera attached to a metal tripod to capture images of the benthos at predetermined, georeferenced sites without the need for divers. Images are subsequently analyzed using CoralNet, an online platform where experts label 25 random points per image into 21 substrate categories. The survey covered the entire Tanzanian coastline, including the islands of Zanzibar and Latham Island, for waters shallower than 50 meters. A regular grid of 1 km spacing was used for station selection, with 500m intervals for Latham Island. In total, the project surveyed 11,690 sites, collecting over 35,000 photoquadrats and covering an equivalent area of approximately 11,526 km² of coastline.