https://doi.org/10.82144/1f7e28c7 https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1201 https://www.gbif.org/dataset/b4469a23-f5a7-48e2-a32e-6e30353ea6a0 https://obis.org/dataset/e71d452f-615e-4654-b78d-35b8a1d91936 Sue Barco Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Primary contact SGBarco@virginiaaquarium.com OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu distributor Sue Barco Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Primary contact SGBarco@virginiaaquarium.com owner 2025-07-31 eng Original provider: Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center Dataset credits: Virginia Aquarium Foundation - Susan G. Barco & Gwen G. Lockhart Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research & Preservation - Robert A. DiGiovanni Jr. & Allison M. DePerte Abstract: The data provided were collected as part of the the Virginia and Maryland Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Initiative - funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service Species Recovery Grants program No. NA09NMF4720033. Occurrence GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xml Observation GBIF Dataset Subtype Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_subtype.xml Marine Biology Visual sighting Marine Animal Survey Marine mammals Sea turtles Visual Sighting Aircraft N/A Aerial surveys were conducted along the coastal waters and bays of Virginia and Maryland. This project is broken into two survey periods. The survey platform was a De Havilland twin otter DHC‐6 modified for observational research. The aircraft was configured so as to have two forward observers and a data recorder on their own communication system and have a second team consisting of a belly observer and one additional observer (either port or starboard) along with a data recorder. The separation of the communications systems enables the two teams to function independently thereby functioning as two individual surveys. Groups of sea turles, marine mammals, and other marine mammals were recorded. This method was developed in order to calculate a perception bias using mark recapture techniques. This dataset is the filtered version – meaning all the duplicate sightings have been removed. All records are marked as observed by only team one, only team two, or by both. There is only one record for each sighting even if the animal was sighted by both teams. The raw dataset, with all sighting from both teams, is available by request from the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Foundation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1201 Oceans,North Atlantic -76.39647 -74.39849 38.52142 36.58278 2011-05-22 2013-07-31 Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). species Balaenoptera borealis Sei whale species Balaenoptera physalus Fin whale species Caretta caretta Loggerhead sea turtle order Cetacea Cetaceans species Cetorhinus maximus Basking shark species Chelonia mydas Green sea turtle family Cheloniidae Sea turtles species Dermochelys coriacea Leatherback sea turtle subclass Elasmobranchii Cartilaginous fishes species Lepidochelys kempii Kemp's ridley species Manta birostris Atlantic manta species Mola mola Ocean sunfish species Rhinoptera bonasus Cownose ray species Sphyrna zygaena Smooth hammerhead species Tursiops truncatus Common bottlenose dolphin subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates Previous sea turtle abundance estimates reported in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay where developed using aerial surveys without correcting for seasonal differences and availability bias. More recent surveys yielded estimates of availability throughout the turtles' residency periods using radio transmitters and satellite telemetry. These estimates where significantly different then previous surveys and changed over time. This project was conducted in order to quantify turtles surfacing time for the purpose of calculating seasonal and annual differences in availability, conduct aerial surveys in a manner that will allow for the calculation of perception bias, and compare estimates generated during previous projects. notPlanned Sue Barco Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Primary contact SGBarco@virginiaaquarium.com NA NA NA Sue Barco owner NA zd_1201 2025-07-31T16:39:20-04:00 dataset Barco, S. 2014. Virginia and Maryland Sea Turtle Research and Conservation Initiative Aerial Survey Sightings, May 2011 through July 2013. Version 1.0.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/1f7e28c7. OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page UTF-8 Interactive map https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1201 FGDC Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1201/fgdc EML Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1201/eml OBIS-SEAMAP zd_1201 zd_1201