Pelagic Baited Remote Underwater Video (pBRUV)

Overview

The pBruvs/ dataset contains all pelagic baited remote underwater video (pBRUV) data collected during Pristine Seas expeditions. pBRUVs are stereo camera systems deployed in the water column to sample pelagic and semi-pelagic fish assemblages, particularly effective for detecting predators, tunas, and other mobile species.

Each deployment involves a string of up to 5 camera rigs suspended at approximately 10 meters depth, providing replicated sampling of the near-surface pelagic environment.

pBruvs/
├── sites        # String deployments with overall operation metadata
├── stations     # Individual camera rigs within each string deployment
└── maxn_by_taxa # Maximum number of individuals by species per rig (future)

For detailed field protocols and analysis methods, see the Pristine Seas pBRUV Standard Operating Procedures.

Tables

Sites (pBruvs.sites)

Contains one row per deployment event, storing operation-level metadata including spatial information (averaged across all rigs), environmental conditions, team logistics, and summary effort metrics. Follows the core site schema shared across methods while adding pBRUV-specific fields for string configuration and deployment success tracking.

Table 1: Schema for pbruv.sites: pBRUV deployment metadata
Field Type Required Description
ps_site_id STRING true Unique site ID (exp_id_method_###), e.g., PNG_2024_pbruv_001
exp_id STRING true Expedition ID (ISO3_YEAR)
method STRING true Survey method: pbruv
region STRING true Broad geographic or administrative unit
subregion STRING true Intermediate feature within the region
locality STRING false Local named feature such as a village, bay, or reef
date DATE true Date of pBRUV deployment (YYYY-MM-DD)
time_start TIME true Time of first deployment (HH:MM:SS)
time_end TIME false Time of last deployment (used to calculate soak time)
latitude FLOAT true Average latitude across all rigs (decimal degrees, WGS84)
longitude FLOAT true Average longitude across all rigs (decimal degrees, WGS84)
habitat STRING false Water mass/habitat type (oceanic, neritic, seamount, lagoon, channel, bank)
exposure STRING false Wave/wind exposure if applicable (windward, leeward, exposed, lagoon, sheltered)
n_rigs INTEGER true Number of rigs successfully deployed (typically 5)
drift_m FLOAT false Average drift distance across all rigs (meters) - calculated
drift_hrs FLOAT false Average drift duration across all rigs (hours) - calculated
bait STRING false Type of bait used (e.g., sardines, skipjack, local_fish)
team_lead STRING true Name of the field lead responsible for deployment
highlights STRING false Notable events during deployment (e.g., large predator presence)
field_notes STRING false Additional deployment comments or observations
annotation_partner STRING false Name of team who annotated the video (UWA, USP, Sharks Pacific)

Stations (pbruv.stations)

Contains one row per individual camera rig within each deployment. Stations are linked to their parent deployment via ps_site_id and uniquely identified using the pattern ps_site_id_r### (e.g., PNG_2024_pbruv_001_r001). Stores rig-specific metadata including equipment details, deployment tracking, and quality assessments.

Table 2: Schema for pbruv.stations: individual camera rig metadata within pBRUV deployments
Field Type Required Description
ps_station_id STRING true Unique station ID (ps_site_id_rig), e.g., PNG_2024_pbruv_001_r201
ps_site_id STRING true Foreign key to pbruv.sites
exp_id STRING true Expedition ID (ISO3_YEAR) - denormalized for performance
region STRING true Region name - from pbruv.sites
subregion STRING true Subregion name - from pbruv.sites
locality STRING false Locality name - from pbruv.sites
habitat STRING false Water mass/habitat type (oceanic, neritic, seamount, lagoon, channel) - from sites
exposure STRING false Wave/wind exposure - from sites
date DATE true Date of deployment - denormalized for temporal queries
time_in TIME true Time when rig entered water
latitude_in FLOAT true Rig deployment latitude (decimal degrees, WGS84)
longitude_in FLOAT true Rig deployment longitude (decimal degrees, WGS84)
time_out TIME false Time when rig was recovered
latitude_out FLOAT false Rig recovery latitude (decimal degrees, WGS84)
longitude_out FLOAT false Rig recovery longitude (decimal degrees, WGS84)
drift_m FLOAT false Total drift distance during deployment (meters) - calculated
drift_hrs FLOAT false Duration of drift (hours) - calculated
rig_id STRING true ID of the camera rig used (e.g., RIG01, SBRUV_A)
left_cam STRING true Model or serial number of the left camera
right_cam STRING true Model or serial number of the right camera
team_lead STRING true Name of the field lead or technician responsible for deployment
video_quality STRING false Assessment of video quality (excellent, good, fair, poor, unusable)
highlights STRING false Notable events during deployment (e.g., large predator presence)
field_notes STRING false Additional comments or QA annotations
annotation_partner STRING false Name of team who annotated the video (UWA, USP, Sharks Pacific)
annotation_code STRING false Operation code from our partner for this deployment (e.g., PNGS24_001)
annotation_status STRING false Status of video analysis (rejected, pending, EM, PM, EM | PM)
annotation_notes STRING false Notes from the partner on the analysis

MaxN (pbruv.maxN) In development

This table contains species-level summaries for each rig within pBRUV deployments using the MaxN metric—the maximum number of individuals of each species observed in a single video frame during the deployment. MaxN provides a conservative abundance estimate per rig that minimizes double-counting of mobile individuals.

Each row represents a unique combination of rig (ps_station_id) and species, with taxonomic information standardized using accepted_aphia_id from taxonomy.fish. Key deployment, rig, and spatial metadata are denormalized to enable efficient querying and analysis across the rig network.

Table 3: Schema for pbruv.maxn_by_taxa: MaxN abundance by species per rig
Field Type Required Description
ps_station_id STRING true Foreign key to pbruv.stations (specific rig)
ps_site_id STRING true Site identifier - denormalized for performance
exp_id STRING true Expedition ID - denormalized for performance
region STRING true Region name - from sites
subregion STRING true Subregion name - from sites
locality STRING false Locality name - from sites
habitat STRING true Habitat type - from sites
date DATE true Date of deployment - denormalized for temporal queries
rig_id STRING true Physical rig identifier - from stations
distance_shore_km FLOAT false Distance from shore for this rig - from stations
drift_m FLOAT false Drift distance for this rig - from stations
uwa_opcode STRING false UWA operation code for this rig - from stations
uwa_string STRING false UWA string identifier - from sites
accepted_name STRING true Scientific name (Genus species) of observed taxon
accepted_aphia_id INTEGER true WoRMS AphiaID — foreign key to taxonomy.fish
rank STRING true Taxonomic rank (species, genus, or family)
family STRING true Family of the observed taxon
trophic_group STRING false Trophic group classification from taxonomy.fish
common_name STRING false Common name from taxonomy.fish
maxn INTEGER true Maximum number of individuals observed in a single frame
maxn_time_min FLOAT false Time (minutes from start) when MaxN was recorded
first_arrival_min FLOAT false Time of first appearance in video (minutes from start)
last_seen_min FLOAT false Time of last observation (minutes from start)
total_detections INTEGER false Total number of detection events for this species on this rig
mean_group_size FLOAT false Average group size across all detections
mean_length_cm FLOAT false Mean estimated length from stereo analysis (cm)
min_length_cm FLOAT false Minimum estimated length (cm)
max_length_cm FLOAT false Maximum estimated length (cm)
n_measured INTEGER false Number of individuals successfully measured
notes STRING false Species-specific observations or notes