Videos and still images of the seabed from the 2018 drop camera survey off the western coast of St. Lucia

As part of the Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme (CMEP) Cefas collected 212 drop camera video tows of the seabed off the western coast of St. Lucia in the Caribbean. The purpose was to characterise the benthic fauna within the area and support the creation of benthic habitat maps for four key areas of the island (Rodney Bay, Castries to Marigot Bay, Soufriere and Vieux Fort). The videos and still images were acquired using a lightweight drop camera frame with a Bowtech high definition video camera, Olympus Mark III stills 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 4-80 m and covered a range of habitats including bare sediment, seagrass, and coral and sponge dominated reefs. Still images were acquired every 10 seconds based on an automated timer. Only a limited number of the still images were processed for the creation of the seabed maps, however, all images have been retained in this data holding.