Bryde’s whales off eastern Venezuela - Vessel 1978-1979

Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute

Dataset credit

N/A

Contacts

RoleNameOrganization 
Primary contact Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara Tethys Research Institute
Data entry Ei Fujioka Duke University

Citation

Abstract

Systematic surveys, conducted between 28 October 1978 and 13 November 1979 in the waters adjacent to Puerto la Cruz and Isla Margarita, Venezuela, documented the presence, distribution and habits of a population of Bryde's whales. Methods included aerial and boat surveys, interviews with local fishermen, and radio-tagging. Bryde's whales, apparently attracted by the abundance of food, were observed in the area between March and December; numbers were greatest in fall. Distribution within the study area varied with season: between march and August the whales were seen in the eastern part; from August to December in the western. Herd size increased from march through October. Although several cow and calf pairs were seen, breeding activities were not, and there is no evidence that this is a breeding area.

Purpose

Surveys were supported by the local company Turismo Margarita S.A., to better understand the causes of collisions between passenger jet hydrofoils and large marine animals, and advise on procedures to minimize such risk.

Supplemental information

An accompanying aerial survey dataset Bryde's whales off eastern Venezuela - Aerial 1978-1979 is available.

The provider digitized the locations from the literature.

The accuracy of the dates is year. Months and days are approximate.

No time is provided. Substituted with 00:00:00.

No group size is provided. Substituted with 1.

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.
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
record_idprogressive number
databasedata credits
projectTurismo Margarita Project (TMP)
obs_dateApproximation of date: +/- 1,5 months based on information contained in Notarbartolo di Sciara 1983.
obs_yearYear of the observation
obs_timeApproximation of local time: +/- 7 hours based on information contained in Notarbartolo di Sciara 1983.
latitudeLatitude in decimal degrees
longitudeLongitude in decimal degrees
sp_obsSpecies name
sp_tsnTaxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
obs_countgroup size = 1, to avoid overestimates, based on information contained in Notarbartolo di Sciara 1983.
platform
geom
OBIS-SEAMAP ID835
Seabirds0
Marine mammals28
Sea turtles0
Rays and sharks0
Other species0
Non spatial0
Non species0
Total28
Date, Begin1979-03-15
Date, End1979-11-15
Temporal prec.100000
Latitude10.39 - 10.92
Longitude-64.68 - -63.83
Coord. prec.6 decimal digits
PlatformBoat
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortN/A
Traveled (km)0
0
Contr. through
Registered2012-03-16
Updated2013-10-07
StatusPublished
Sharing policy CC-BY (All)
Shared with OBIS
GBIF (via DOI)
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See metadata in FGDC XML
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