As part of the Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme (CMEP) Cefas collected
50 drop camera video tows of the seabed off the coast of Grand Anse Bay to St
George's, in Grenada, to characterise the benthic fauna within the area and
support the creation of benthic habitat maps. The videos and still images were
acquired during the 2016 survey using a lightweight drop camera frame with a
SubC camera, two lasers for scaling images and additional lighting for real
colour images of the seabed. The drop camera frame was lowered to the seabed
by hand from a vessel, with the video monitored to maintain a consistent
height above the seabed. Tows were 15 minutes long with the vessel drifting in
neutral so the distance covered in each tow varied. Sample depths ranged from
5-60 m and covered a range of habitats including bare sediment, seagrass, and
coral and sponge dominated reefs. Still images were acquired every minute at a
point when the seabed was clearly in focus.
