SEFSC Atlantic surveys 1999

Carol Roden, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

An Atlantic Ocean ship survey was conducted by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center in 1999 to evaluate abundance, distribution and stock structure of cetaceans in southeastern U.S. Atlantic waters. Data gathered on this survey will provide abundance estimates for calculating the Potential Biological Removal for U.S. Atlantic waters as required by the 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

During the 32 survey days, at least 12 cetacean species were sighted, including

Atlantic spotted dolphin
Bottlenose dolphin
Clymene dolphin
Common dolphin
Fraser's dolphin
Melon-headed whale
Pantropical spotted dolphin
Pilot whale
Risso's dolphin
Rough-toothed dolphin
Sperm whale
Striped dolphin

The dataset is accompanied by transect data which is provided as a separate file.

The purpose of this survey is to examine the distribution and estimate abundance of cetaceans in U.S. waters.

Specific objectives of this survey are:

1. Obtain minimum abundance estimate for calculating Potential Biological Removal for each species.

2. Collect biopsy tissue samples to evaluate stock structure.

3.Establish and build time-series databases for monitoring trends in abundance.

4. Examine distribution in relation to physiographic and oceanographic features.

5. Obtain photographs and video images of selected species for photo-identification studies.

N/A

The dataset has been updated over time as outlined below. Each entry includes the version number, release date, type of change, and a short description.

Overview

Attributes are defined by Northwest Atlantic Seabird Catalog.

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
observation_id	Unique id of record in NWASC
source_obs_id	Source observation ID by original provider
local_obs_id
transect_id	Transect ID
source_transect_id	Source Transect ID by original provider
local_transect_id
whole_transect
dataset_id	Dataset ID within Catalog (different from OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset ID)
source_dataset_id
local_survey_id
longitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
latitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
obs_dt	Date of observation
obs_start_tm	Start time of observation
obs_end_tm	End time of observation
seconds_from_midnight_nb
original_species_tx
spp_cd	Species code in NWASC
observer_confidence_tx
obs_count_intrans_nb
obs_count_general_nb
animal_age_tx	Age of animal
age_id	Age code
animal_sex_tx	Animal gender
sex_id	Gender code
plumage_tx	Plumage of animal
behavior_tx	Behavior of animal
behavior_id	Behavior code
travel_direction_tx	Travel direction
flight_height_tx	Flight height
distance_to_animal_tx	Distance to animal
angle_from_observer_nb	Angle from observer
association_tx	Association
seastate_beaufort_nb	Beaufort seastate
wave_height_tx	Wave height
whitecaps_tx	Whitecaps
visibility_tx	Visibility
glare_tx	Glare
wind_speed_tx	Wind speed
wind_dir_tx	Wind direction
cloud_cover_tx	Cloud cover
weather_tx	Weather
seasurface_tempc_nb	Sea surface temperature in celsius
salinity_ppt_nb	Salinity in ppt
platform_tx	Platform
station_tx
survey_type	Survey type
heading_tx	Heading
observer_tx	Observer name
obs_position	Observer position
visit
camera_reel
datafile
observer_comments_tx	Comments
date_created
who_created
date_imported
who_imported
admin_notes
sf_type
geom_nad83	Not used.