BLM CETAP SHIP Sightings

University of Rhode Island

Dataset credit

University of Rhode Island
Bureau of Land Management
US Dept of the Interior

Contacts

RoleNameOrganization 
Primary contact Robert Kenney University of Rhode Island
Data entry Ei Fujioka Duke University

Citation

Abstract

The Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program (CETAP) was sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management and conducted between October 1978 and January 1982 by the University of Rhode Island in outer continental shelf waters of the northeastern United States from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to the Gulf of Maine and from shore to 9.3 km (5 nautical miles) seaward of the 1829 m (1000 fathoms) isobath. Population surveys were conducted by CETAP to assess the distribution and abundance of whales, dolphins and sea turtles inhabiting the study area.

Purpose

This dataset is a subset of CETAP sightings, extracting opportunistic sighting records, with the addition of taxonomic information of species sighted. The full dataset may be available upon request. Requests for more data, further details on the dataset, proper use of the dataset, and questions should be directed to the primary contact person.

Supplemental information

[2020-09-30] The following invalid species names were corrected according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Turtles: Testudines (173749) => Testudines (948936)

Sighting points that are more than 2 km inland were eliminated. Sightings located from 1 km to 2 km inland can be considered as on-water sightings. Those points have TRUE in [Excluded] field to indicate that they seem to fall on land but may be correct sightings.

Metadata are in progress.

References

Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program. 1981. A characterization of marine mammals and turtles in the mid- and north-Atlantic areas of the U.S. outer continental shelf, Annual Report for 1979. Contract AA551-CT8-48. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC. (NTIS# PB-81-243289.).
Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program. 1982. A characterization of marine mammals and turtles in the mid- and north-Atlantic areas of the U.S. outer continental shelf, Annual Report for 1980. Contract AA551-CT8-48. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC. (NTIS# PB-81-243289.).
Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program. 1982. A characterization of marine mammals and turtles in the mid- and north-Atlantic areas of the U.S. outer continental shelf, Final Report. Contract AA551-CT8-48. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC. (NTIS# PB-81-243289.).

Attributes

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.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downloadable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission.

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)Description
datasetDataset ID
linenoLine number
fileidFile ID
platformPlatform
obsdateDate of the observation
obstimeTime of the observation (local time)
monthMonth
dayDay
yearYear
stimeTime in the original string format
latLatitude in decimal degrees
lonLongitude in decimal degrees
eventnoEvent No.
legtypeLeg type
legstageLeg stage
headingHeading
cloudCloud
vizVizibility
beaufortBeaufort Sea state
sightnoSighting No
speccodeSpecies code
scientificScientific name
commonCommon name
tsnITIS Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
rankTaxonomic rank
idrelSpecies identification reliability
numberGroup size
confidncdefinition not provided
deadDead or alive
excludedFor internal use
geomGeometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP
oidUnique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
OBIS-SEAMAP ID285
Seabirds0
Marine mammals3,270
Sea turtles120
Rays and sharks90
Other species219
Non spatial0
Non species10
Total3,709
Date, Begin1978-11-03
Date, End1980-12-26
Temporal prec.111111
Latitude31.90 - 45.02
Longitude-79.70 - -58.87
Coord. prec.3 decimal digits
PlatformBoat
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortYES (ID: 287)
Traveled (km)215,492
Effort hours16,989
Contr. through
Registered2005-08-02
Updated2020-10-01
StatusPublished
Sharing policy CC-BY-NC (Minimum)
Shared with OBIS
GBIF (via DOI)
See metadata in static HTML
See metadata in FGDC XML
See download history / statistics