Seabed images taken at pilot oyster reefs in the Borkum Reef Ground marine protected area during September 2021

Imagery transects with a camera attached to a frame design for taking pictures in a 50 x 50 cm area. Seabed images transects were carried out by scientific divers during the RESTORE expedition on board the ship Arctic Ocean during September 2021, focusing on the monitoring of two pilot reefs (east and west) and the ecology of benthic assemblages in the Borkum Reef Ground marine protected area. The camera used was a Cannon EOS M6 camera, the pictures were taken perpendicularly to the seabed. The transects were done along a preset track across the reefs, number of pictures per transect varied based on diving time, with a minimum of 10 images per transect. Due to logistic problems, two transects were done for the east reef, and one for the west reef. The seabed images provide insights into the general composition of key species, higher systematic groups and ecological guilds. The images also contain valuable information on how benthic species are associated to each other. Dataset includes individual images, and metadata of each image including diving depth, date/time, and corresponding diver. Detailed geographical coordinates of individual images are unavailable.