Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation Aerial Survey
Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation

Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation

The Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation has a long-term study that has been documenting the occurrence, distribution, and abundance of marine mammals around the islands of The Bahamas since 1991. With more than 1,900 marine mammal encounters in the Bahamas, we are providing the only comprehensive documentation of the marine mammal fauna in this part of the world. Our research is based on the use of systematic boat-based surveys for describing the distribution and habitat use of different marine mammal species. We employ photo-identification techniques for the recognition of individual whales and dolphins, and we have developed new statistical approaches for using these data to determine abundance estimates and occupancy patterns. This photographic sampling is complemented by the collection of skin and faecal samples for molecular genetic analysis, which are being used to assess levels of genetic diversity and investigate the structuring of marine mammal populations.

The dataset presented here includes only marine mammal sightings, and other sea turtle sightings and marine mammal strandings and sightings are included in separate datasets in OBIS-SEAMAP. The dataset presented here is a subset of 444 marine mammal sightings between 1988 and 2005, which includes sightings reported from the public. The entire dataset consists of 1,934 BMMS vessel encounters with marine mammals between 1991 and 2005, comprising 20 different species, with the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin representing 60% of all encounters. Also, the entire dataset includes 89 stranding records between 1944 and 2005, including 15 species with Cuvier's beaked whale being the most common. In addition, 101 sightings of turtles comprising 3 different species between 1991 and 2005 were recorded within the entire dataset.

N/A

Should be used with effort data.

2006. Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation, unpublished data

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
transectno
date	Date of observation
time	Time of observation
mark
lat_s
lon_s
lat	Latitude of observation
long	Longitude of observation
legno
species	Species observed
tsn	Species ITIS TSN
scientific
juvno
adultno
config
direction
change
yes
no
initials
beg
end_
comments
excluded
oid	Unique ID number (generated by SEAMAP)