DFO Maritimes Region Cetacean Sightings

OBIS & OBIS Canada

This is an OBIS formatted version of the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Maritimes Region database for visual sightings of cetaceans (e.g. whales, dolphins and porpoises) and other large pelagic animals (e.g. fish and turtles) mostly from the Scotian Shelf/Bay of Fundy portions of Canada's east coast. The collectors of these sightings are diverse (e.g. NGO researchers, fisheries observers, private consultants, etc), mostly on-board ship and mostly collected since the late 1990s. The horizontal resolution of the data (e.g. distance between sightings) varies by a vast amount - just metres in some areas like the Bay of Fundy, and tens to thousands of kilometers elsewhere, like off northern Labrador. A small portion of the database (e.g. DFO Survey) are standardized marine mammal survey data, where a line transect sightings survey is conducted and sightings effort is logged. Only these survey data allow for the calculation of Sightings Per Unit Effort and the use of Distance Sampling methods, leading to a statistically-based, unbiased abundance estimate. The design and structure of the main project database is consistent with other DFO databases and with the University of Rhode Island (URI) whale sightings database. Departures from the URI standard (mainly species and gear codes) are easily translated by users of either database. This database is a compilation of a number of datasets, most of the data being gathered opportunistically. More detailed information on the individual sightings, human interactions and animal behaviour are available from the source database and the resource creator should be contacted.

N/A

Observations archived in a regional database. Here are the caveats that are supplied to users who request records from the source database (similiar caveats should be applied to the OBIS dataset): 1. These data are intended only for the specified user and purpose for which they were requested and should not be distributed to others. 2. The sighting data have not yet been completely error-checked 3. The quality of some of the sighting data is unknown. Most sightings are collected on an opportunistic basis and observations may come from individuals with a variety of expertise in marine mammal identification experiences. 4. Most data have been gathered from platforms of opportunity that were vessel-based. The inherent problems with negative or positive reactions by cetaceans to the approach of such vessels have not yet been factored into the data 5. Sighting effort has not been quantified (i.e., the numbers cannot be used to estimate true species density or abundance for an area). Lack of sightings do not represent lack of species present in a particular area 6. Numbers sighted have not been verified (especially in light of the significant differences in detectability among species). 7. For completeness, these data represent an amalgamation of sightings from a variety of years and seasons. Effort (and number of sightings) is not necessarily consistent among months, years, and areas. There are large gaps between years. Thus seasonal, depth, and distribution information should be interpreted with caution. 8. Many sightings could not be identified to species, but are listed to the smallest taxonomic group possible.

Study Extent: Areas of interest to Canadian research extending from the North Atlantic to the arctic and to the North Pacific.

Quality Control: Scientific names listed in the source database species list have been mapped to recognized standards - marine taxa have been mapped to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). The respective codes(WoRMS AphiaIDs) have been included in this resource in the scientificNameID field as LSIDs.

Step Description 1: This resource was created by the data provider for OBIS Canada. Records were downloaded from the source database and and an OBIS view of the collection was created. DwC fields were populated after consultation between the resource creator and the OBIS Canada data management team. This is the 5th version of this OBIS dataset. The original data records were archived in the Fisheries and Oceans Maritimes SABS cetacean database.

In the original data downloaded from the OBIS Canada IPT server, there were 91 records that were potential duplicates with the existing OBIS-SEAMAP datasets. These records are removed from the online mapping tools but are included in the dataset download.

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
All attributes are included in the downloadable file (CSV or ESRI File Geodatabase) for "Complete Set of Dataset".

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
id	ID of the dataset in OBIS
modified	The date of the record updated
language	Language (always
rights	Links to the copyright documents
rightsholder	Right holder
institutionid	Institution ID
datasetid	Dataset ID
institutioncode	Institution code
collectioncode	Collection code
datasetname	Dataset name
basisofrecord	Basis of record "HumanObservation"
dynamicproperties	Dynamic properties
occurrenceid	definition not provided
catalognumber	Catalog number
recordedby	Institute that recorded the data
individualcount	definition not provided
sex	definition not provided
lifestage	definition not provided
samplingprotocol	definition not provided
eventtime	definition not provided
year	Year
month	Month
day	Day
fieldnumber	definition not provided
minimumdepthinmeters	definition not provided
maximumdepthinmeters	definition not provided
decimallatitude	definition not provided
decimallongitude	definition not provided
scientificnameid	Scientific name ID
scientificname	definition not provided
kingdom	Kingdom
phylum	Phylum
class	Class
order_	Order
family	Family
genus	Genus
subgenus	Subgenus
specificepithet	Specificepithet
infraspecificepithet	Infraspecificepithet
scientificnameauthorship	Authorship
obs_date	definition not provided
obs_time	Time of the observation (local time zone)
sp_tsn	Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP