This document describes the procedures for broadscale surveys of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) and corals used by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) as part of the Long-term Monitoring Program that commenced in 1992.

Two basic techniques are used in these surveys: manta tow and SCUBA searches.

Part one details the manta tow technique previously described by Moran et al. (1989) and more recently in the Survey Manual for Tropical Marine Resources (eds. English et al. 1997, 2nd ed.).

Since the technique was first described, a number of changes have been made to address problems associated with observer bias and also to standardise data collection procedures.

Part two describes the SCUBA search technique that has been used in broadscale surveys at AIMS to provide additional information on low level populations of COTS, and to investigate the causes of coral mortality.

This document describes the equipment, survey methodology, data recording, data entry and training procedures for both techniques.

A detailed description of the database is provided by Baker et al.(1991).

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