Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Sightings in the Vicinity of the Maryland Wind Energy Area 2013-2015

Virginia Aquarium Foundation - Susan G. Barco & Gwen G. Lockhart
Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Monitoring, St. Andrews University - Louise Burt
Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research & Preservation - Robert A. DiGiovanni Jr. & Allison M. DePerte

There have been no consistent, year-round marine mammal surveys of the ocean waters off of Maryland since the late 1970s (Scott et al. 1979). Current survey efforts by the National Marine Fisheries Service and partner agencies as part of the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS) include broad scale surveys that may not provide sufficient data for the Maryland Wind Energy Area. Data on protected species presence and seasonality are needed to inform state and federal agencies responsible for permitting offshore energy development and construction (BOEM 2013). The goal of this two year effort was designed to provide fine scale data on presence of protected species, especially large whales, for Maryland’s wind development efforts.

The goal of this two year effort was designed to provide fine scale data on presence of protected species, especially large whales, for Maryland’s wind development efforts.

Static line transect image is available to visualize.

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

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

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
objectid	Unique ID number
data	String expression of the temporal period: Month_Year
strata	Strata. Always MD
survey	Survey ID
transect	Transect
series	Series. Always MD
linenumber	Transect line number
team	Observer team: 1 = front, 2 = rear, 3 = both
newteam	New team
line	Line identifier
sightingnumber	Sighting number
duplicatesightingnumber	Duplicate Sighting Number
day	Day of the sighting
month	Month of the sighting
year	Year of the sighting
gmttime	Time of the sighting at UTC
obstime	Time of the sighting at local time (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
obsname	Observer code
angle	Angle in degrees
angle_side	Angle side
dist_m	Distance in meters
groupsize	Group size
cue	Cue
swimdir	Swim direction
dive	Indicate if the animals are diving
obsposition	Observer position
lat	Latitude in decimal degrees
lon	Longitude in decimal degrees
speed	Speed
direction	Direction
altitude	Altitude in meters
sstc	Sea surface temperature in celcius
beaufort	Beaufort sea state
turbidity	Turbidity
cc	definition not provided
glarefrom	Glare from
glareto	Glare to
severity	Severity
quality	Subjective quality for the survey conditions
behavior	Behavior
transect_label	Transect label
sigid	Sighting ID
dupsigid	Duplicate sighting ID
speciesgroup	Species group
species	Species code
sp_tsn	Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
calfnum	The number of calves if exists
turtsize	Turtle size (L: large; M: medium; S:small)
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP