Harbour porpoises, white-beaked dolphins and minke whales in North Sea - Vessel surveys -
Caroline Weir

Caroline Weir, Ketos Ecology
Karen Stockin, Sea Watch Foundation

Spatial and temporal trends in the distribution of the harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena, white-beaked dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris, and minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata were assessed at a coastal North Sea study area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Between March 1999 and October 2001, cetacean data were collected using both land- and vessel-based survey methods. A total of 174 sightings of these three cetacean species was recorded during approximately 330 h of combined survey effort (228 h land-based and 102 h vessel-based).

The data were collected to analyze the distribution and seasonality of cetacean species in the region, in order to provide recommendations for their long-term conservation and management.

This dataset is accompanied with a land-based survey dataset, a separate dataset available on OBIS-SEAMAP.

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
id
sighting_id
type
input_by
record
species	Species observed
scientific
common
tsn	Species ITIS TSN
group_
rank
obs_count	Number of animals observed
no_adults
no_juveniles
no_calves
time	Time of observation
date	Date of observation
latitude	Latitude of observation
longitude	Longitude of observation
animal_heading
behav_1
behav_2
assoc_birds
obs_code
platform_code
platform_name
vessel_speed
vessel_course
boat_hdg_at_obs
wind_force
wind_direction
visibility
sea_state
swell
effort_id
distance_to_animal
bearing_to_animal
oid	Unique ID number (generated by SEAMAP)