IMMRAC marine mammal sightings from the Mediterranean's Levantine Basin

Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center (IMMRAC)

Dataset credit

Nir Hadar, Oz Goffman, Aviad Scheinin and Dani Kerem, Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center (IMMRAC)

Contacts

RoleNameOrganization 
Primary contact Dani Kerem IMMRAC (Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center)
Data entry Connie Kot Duke University

Citation

Abstract

IMMRAC is a purely voluntary registered nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of cetacean populations in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the noethern Red Sea, through scientific research and public education. IMMRAC is a partner of ACCOBAMS. Research activities are under the academic auspices of the Institute for Maritime Studies, School of Marine Sciences in the University of Haifa. Open Sea research activity along the 190 km-long Israeli Mediterranean coast is conducted throughout the year, weather permitting. It focuses on the socio-ecology of the resident bottlenose dolphin population through half-day surveys from inflatable boats and private yachts. Due to logistic reasons, open sea research in the Red Sea is opportunistic and sporadic.

Purpose

IMMRAC collates shore-based and boat-based cetacean sightings, the latter from dedicated surveys as well as from platforms of opportunity, made by its own staff or reported to it by other parties. The latter are mostly backed by photographs/videos or else, are indisputably accredited through careful interrogation by IMMRAC experts in real time and/or soon after the sighting, aided by a pictorial guide.

Supplemental information

[2014-03-27] Sightings in 2012-2014 were appended. The activity column was added in this period whereas the seastate and comments columns were not provided.

Some records had estimates, minimums, or ranges for group sizes - these were converted to numbers, minimum + 1, or the median number (rounded down), respectively, for the number of animals observed.

References

D. Kerem, N. Hadar, O. Goffman, A. Scheinin, R. Kent, O. Boisseau, U. Schattner. 2012. Update on the cetacean fauna of the Mediterranean Levantine Basin. Open Marine Biology Journal. 6:6-27.

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 (added by OBIS-SEAMAP)
sp_obsSpecies observed
sp_tsnTaxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
obs_dateDate of observation
obs_timeTime of the observation (local time zone)
latitudeLatitude in decimal degrees
longitudeLongitude in decimal degrees
group_size_orgGroup size in original format (including ranges, minimum etc in text)
obs_countestimated group size
calves_presenceCalves presence
activityActivity (since 2012 data)
seastateSea state (not provided since 2012)
commentsComments (not provided since 2012)
geomGeometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP
OBIS-SEAMAP ID819
Seabirds0
Marine mammals105
Sea turtles0
Rays and sharks0
Other species0
Non spatial0
Non species0
Total105
Date, Begin1993-07-26
Date, End2014-03-02
Temporal prec.111110
Latitude31.35 - 36.35
Longitude28.50 - 35.09
Coord. prec.4 decimal digits
PlatformBoat
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortN/A
Traveled (km)0
0
Contr. throughACCOBAMS
Registered2012-02-17
Updated2014-04-02
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