Cetacean and sea turtle sightings from offshore Republic of Congo

Marijke N. de Boer

Dataset credit

Marijke N. de Boer

Contacts

RoleNameOrganization 
Primary contact Marijke de Boer Wageningen Marine Research, University of Wageningen
Data entry Ei Fujioka Duke University

Citation

Abstract

The cetacean communities inhabiting eastern tropical Atlantic (ETA) waters
along the west coast of Africa are globally amongst the most poorly studied.
The limited recent information available is derived mainly from the monitoring
of strandings and fisheries interactions at landing sites. However, little is
known about the habitat preferences of the species that occur off Congo
because at-sea sightings have rarely been published.

Purpose

The main purpose of this study was to contribute information on the
distribution and relative abundance of cetaceans sighted during a geophysical
survey in Congo waters and where possible relating the occurrence of different
species with oceanographic parameters such as sea surface temperature (SST)
and depth.

Supplemental information

The cetacean & turtle data were collected during a dedicated marine
megafauna survey

References

Attributes

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
oidUnique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
sighting_numberSighting number
date_timeDate and time at GMT
observerObserver name
decimal_latitudeLatitude at decimal degrees
decimal_longitudeLongitude at decimal degrees
water_depthWater depth (metres)
speciesSpecies name
latin_nameScientific name
sp_tsnTaxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
certaintyCertainty of the animal identification
bearing_to_animalBearing to animal
range_of_animalRange of animal (metres)
total_numberTotal number of individuals
number_of_adultsNumber of adults
number_of_juvenilesNumber of juveniles
number_of_calvesNumber of calves (visual sightings only)
photoWas photo taken (yes/no)
behaviourBehaviour
direction_of_travelDirection of travel (compass points)
geomGeometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP
OBIS-SEAMAP ID2294
Seabirds0
Marine mammals674
Sea turtles12
Rays and sharks0
Other species0
Non spatial0
Non species0
Total686
Date, Begin2023-08-13
Date, End2023-09-14
Temporal prec.111110
Latitude-5.77 - -4.66
Longitude10.01 - 11.84
Coord. prec.5 decimal digits
PlatformBoat
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortN/A
Traveled (km)0
0
Contr. through
Registered2024-05-30
Updated2024-06-03
StatusPublished
Sharing policy CC-BY-NC (Minimum)
Shared with OBIS
GBIF (via DOI)
See metadata in static HTML
See metadata in FGDC XML
See download history / statistics