In most fishery management areas, the abundance of the marine aquarium resources is not known. To address this, a RAM Survey is carried out to assess the status and condition of reefs and fish stocks in the fishery management area. RAM and the SEASMART program also evaluate the effectiveness of management by monitoring coral reefs and populations of exploited organisms and 'control areas' to determine if there are effects on reef health or target species' populations from aquarium fishing, and if these effects are ecologically significant compared to natural spatial and temporal variation.

In general, a RAM survey involves recording the numbers and sizes of marine aquarium species using belt transects. All currently traded and potential marine aquarium species and their abundance are recorded during these surveys. Belt transects are deployed mainly for marine aquarium invertebrate species at a maximum 5m depth. Belt transects are in fixed areas of reef that are surveyed for all fish and invertebrates, while recording coral species cover. Coral reef health is also indicated from surveys of fish and invertebrate indicators recorded during belt transect surveys.

To ensure a sound scientific assessment and monitoring of coral reefs and marine aquarium stocks, the SEASMART program carries out a baseline resource survey in all target Fishery Management Areas (FMAs). Consolidated survey data report is produced at the end of each assessment to summarize the status of marine aquarium organism stocks and associated coral reef ecosystem of the FMA.

The resource assessment survey report also contains Total Allowable Catch (TAC) figures for the species found during the survey. To date, 750 fish and 500 invertebrate globally traded species have been identified in PNG. With many suitable and high demand species, however, only those members of a non-breeding age are collected since the breeders are too large in size for the market, further protecting the recruitment rates of these species. In addition, the trade is limited to free diving down to 5 meters that for most species allows for further recruitment possibilities from deeper depths.