Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation Aerial Survey

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, which includes sightings reported from the public. The entire dataset consists 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. Also, 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, 101 sightings of turtles comprising 3 different species between 1991 and 2005 were recorded within the entire dataset.

N/A

Should be used with effort data.

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
transectno	definition not provided
date	Date of observation
time	Time of observation
mark	definition not provided
lat_s	definition not provided
lon_s	definition not provided
lat	Latitude of observation
long	Longitude of observation
legno	definition not provided
species	Species observed
tsn	Species ITIS TSN
scientific	definition not provided
juvno	definition not provided
adultno	definition not provided
config	definition not provided
direction	definition not provided
change	definition not provided
yes	definition not provided
no	definition not provided
initials	definition not provided
beg	definition not provided
end_	definition not provided
comments	definition not provided
excluded	definition not provided
geom	definition not provided
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)