VACAPES PAX Vessel Opportunistic Sightings July 2015 - Nov 2017

The U.S. Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program

Features in this feature class represent opportunistic animal sighting locations that occurred during CPOD deployment and recover vessel trips beginning in July 2015 through November 2017 in Chesapeake Bay near Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
Fourteen vessel trips were completed between 07/10/2015 – 11/29/2017. Work was performed under HDR task order CTO 55 (IDIQ contract award N62470-10-D-3011, NAVFAC LANT).

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Vessel effort and opportunistic sightings during CPOD deployments and recoveries between 7/10/2015 and 11/29/2017.

Opportunistic sightings data were entered and organized in this geodatabase by HDR. Source data was provided by HDR under the MSM IDIQ contract.

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.
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
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
altitudem	The altitude of the observation platform (plane, vessel bridge, etc) above sea level
bearing	Relative bearing from the platform to the sighting, where the front of the platform is zero degrees. Formats include clock face, degrees, etc.
beaufortscaleavg	Beaufort sea state (0-12)
counttotbest	The best estimate of the number of animals in the sighting
counttotmax	The highest estimate of the number of animals in the sighting
counttotmin	The lowest estimate of the number of animals in the sighting
datetime	Date and Time together in one cell value (LOCAL TIME)
distsight	The radial distance to the animal
distsighttype	Type of distance estimation (estimated, range-finder, reticle calculation, declination calculation)
effortstatus	Indication of whether the survey team was actively searching with all designated observers focused on searching for marine mammal sighting cues. Options: On= dedicated observation effort with both observers on watch. If line, strip, or point transect - following formal distance sampling protocol regardless of survey mode (e.g. maintaining observation and platform protocols on a connector line). All other survey types - maintaining a consistent level of observation effort ; Off= not observing; If line, strip, or point transect - not following formal distance sampling protocol regardless of survey mode (e.g. platform speed or altitude is not consistent with protocol, incomplete observer effort, etc). All other survey types - no dedicated observation effort. Compormised= only one observer watching, observing through cloud/fog patches, dark, or other conditions that compromise ability to observe consistently
headingplatmagnetic	definition not provided
latplatform	The latitude of the platform in decimal degrees
longplatform	The Longitude of the platform in decimal degrees
observer	The name of the observer who first sighted the animal
ocean	The ocean where the survey took place (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, etc.)
opticstype	Indicates the type of optic used to fix a particular sighting (e.g., bigeyes, handheld binos, theodolite, naked eye). Useful when a platform uses several methods to sight animals
platformded	Indicates if the survey was a dedicated marine mammal survey, or if data was gathered opportunistically from a platform on a different mission
platformtype	Type of survey platform (e.g., "aerial", "vessel")
rangecomplex	The Range complex (or complexes) associated with the survey (JAX, SOCAL, Cherry Point, etc.)
spcsnmcom	Common name of the sighted species. Output should be singular (e.g. bottlenose dolphin)
spcsnmsci	Scientific name of the sighted species
sp_tsn	Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
surveyid	A survey identifier consisting of data collector, range complex, platform, year, month, and day. (Data Collector/Source)_(Range Complex)_(Platform Type or Details)_(Year)(Month)(Day) (eg. SES_SOCAL_Aerial_20120417)
surveymode	Indication of survey mode for a particular survey leg (e.g. line-transect, transit, circle, shoreline scan, ship-follow, over-flight?) Options: Systematic (Survey platform is following pre-determined systematic transects - applies to line-, strip-, and point-transect surveys); Non-systematic search (Survey platform searches for target animals using random or "non-systematic" methods (i.e., not using pre-established transects) and does not follow formal distance sampling protocols); Connector line (Survey platform is following short lines connecting pre-determined systematic transects); Transit (Survey platform is performing point-to-point travel in order to arrive at a survey area of interest); Focal follow (Survey platform leaves transect lines or other search pattern to observe high-priority species to document and collect focal behavior data (typically 15 to 20 min)); Verify/Circle (Survey platform leaves transect lines or other search pattern to observe sightings to verify species, group size and/or behavior, often with photographs and/or video); Ship follow (Survey platform follows a vessel to make observations associated with the vessel
surveytype	Indication of the overall approach used to satisfy the main objective of the survey (e.g. density estimation or other); Options: Line transect (Survey objective is to collect data for line transect abundance/density estimation. Transect lines are established and selected prior to the survey); Strip Transect (Survey objective is to collect data for strip transect abundance/density estimation. Transect strips are established and selected prior to the survey): Point transect (Survey objective is to collect data for point transect abundance/density estimation. Transect points are established and selected prior to the survey); Non-systematic search (Platform follows transects or search lines NOT established by design (e.g. SWFSC ETP surveys, and what are often called "non-systematic" photo-ID surveys); Platform of opportunity (Survey objective is to obtain data from a (non-dedicated) platform of opportunity. Includes Navy ship embarks); Shore station (Survey objective is to obtain data from a static shore-based platform); Other
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP