This Standard Operational Procedure was first produced as an internal report in January 1995. Since then, it has been used for training in reef monitoring throughout the Pacific. This second edition has been revised to suit the wider audience and also to include modifications to the design of the Great Barrier Reef Monitoring Program.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science's Long-term Monitoring Program monitors benthic communities, reef fish abundance, crown-of-thorns starfish populations and water quality parameters on an annual basis. Both reef fish and benthic communities are monitored along permanently marked transects, on selected reefs.

This Standard Operational Procedure is Volume 1 in a series of five, produced by the Long-term Monitoring Program at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Part one describes the standard procedure used to manta tow entire reefs, and Part two describes how to conduct fixed transect and timed searches. Further details of the Long-term Monitoring Program are described in Oliver et al. (1995).

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