BLM CETAP AIR Sightings
University of Rhode Island

Dataset credit

University of Rhode Island
Bureau of Land Management
U.S. Dept of the Interior

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 (1,000 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_AIR extracting animal sighting records with taxonomic information of species sighted added. The full dataset may be available upon request. Please contact the primary contact person for the proper use of the dataset.

Supplemental information

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

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-83-149906.)

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-83-215855.)

Contacts

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

Attributes

Overview

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downlodable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission unless otherwise noteded below.

Attributes in dataset provided

Attribute (table column)Description
dataset
lineno
fileid
platform
obsdate
obstime
month
day
year
s_time
lat
lon
eventno
legtype
legstage
heading
alt
cloud
viz
beaufort
glarel
glarer
sightno
speccode
scientific
common
tsn
rank
idrel
number
confidnc
dead
excluded
oid
SEAMAP ID283
Seabirds0
Marine mammals5,167
Sea turtles2,641
Total11,132
Date, Begin1978-11-14
Date, End1982-01-19
Latitudes28.77 - 45.03
Longitudes-81.30 - -61.48
PlatformPlane
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortYES (ID: 286)
Traveled (km)356,000
Effort hours2,073
Updated2005-08-02