Underwater Visual Census videos at pilot oyster reefs in the Borkum Reef Ground marine protected area (HEINCKE cruise HE601)

The Underwater Visual Census (UVC) transects were carried out by scientific divers during the Heincke HE601 cruise focusing on developing and testing monitoring techniques at the Borkum Reef Ground and Sylt Outer Reef Marine Protected Areas. The UVC transects consisted of 1x1m sampling regions. To define these regions, divers used a 1m-long PVC pipe. At each sampling region, the diver spent approximately 1 minute counting and identifying, to the lowest taxonomic level possible, as many organisms as possible. The UVC transect provide insights into the general composition of key species, higher systematic groups and ecological guilds. Files included correspond to the observed organisms at each sampling region. Precise geographical coordinates for start/end of the transect, as well as that for individual sampling regions is unavailable.