As part of the Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme (CMEP) Cefas collected
102 drop camera video tows of the seabed off the west coast of St. Vincent
Island in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2016. These samples
were to characterise the benthic fauna within the area and support the
creation of benthic habitat maps. The videos and still images were acquired
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.
