Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation On-transect Sightings

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, including sightings reported from the public. This dataset also is a subset 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. 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, the entire dataset includes 101 sightings of turtles comprising 3 different species between 1991 and 2005.

N/A

A sighting is is when our vessel was unable to close in on the group of animals while an encounter is when closing was successful and photographs / video recording of the animals were obtained. The dataset includes both encounters and sightings on transect as well as reports from the public. Off-transect sightings and encounters (opportunistic) are provided in a different dataset.



Use this dataset along with transect tracklines.

Overview

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
dataset	definition not provided
lineno	definition not provided
date	definition not provided
encseq	definition not provided
sightingsq	definition not provided
species	definition not provided
sp_code	definition not provided
tsn	definition not provided
scientific	definition not provided
groupsize	definition not provided
time	definition not provided
endtime	definition not provided
area	definition not provided
transect	definition not provided
transectno	definition not provided
time_	definition not provided
lat_s	definition not provided
lon_s	definition not provided
lat	definition not provided
long	definition not provided
watertemp	definition not provided
waterdepth	definition not provided
cloudcover	definition not provided
beaufort	definition not provided
vessel	definition not provided
excluded	definition not provided
geom	definition not provided
oid	definition not provided