SEFSC Southeast Cetacean Aerial Survey 1995

NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)

Southeast Cetacean Aerial Survey, SECAS, was conducted in 1995 by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) to estimate cetacean abundance. This data set contains sightings of cetaceans and sea turtles as well as other species, including fish and shark, observed during the aerial survey.
The full taxonomic information for this dataset can be found in the Species tab. Marine mammals and sea turtles observed were:
Cetaceans:
- Atlantic spotted dolphin
- Cuvier’s beaked whale
- Humpback whale
- Northern right whale
- Pantropical spotted dolphin
- Standard Bottlenose dolphin
- Striped dolphin

Sea Turtles:
- Green turtle
- Hardshell
- Kemp's ridley
- Leatherback
- Loggerhead

This survey's transects are available in the 'SECAS95Efforts' table/shapefile. ESRI coverage and shapefiles are available for this data set.

The purpose of this data set was to collect cetacean distribution data and allow for estimating cetacean abundance in the southeast. These abundance estimates were expected to serve as a basis for estimating Potential Biological Removals (PBR) for the species stocks in the region in support of Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requirements. More specifically, the survey was to obtain an index of abundance for Tursiops truncatus so as to detect population trends by comparison with historical abundance data (SETS).

Records with no common name were observations of pollution (e.g., plastic).
Records were assigned a sequential number LineNo. LineNo can be used to match observations with corresponding transects, each of which has BegLineNo and EndLineNo fields. Observation records with their LineNo between BegLineNo and EndLineNo in a transect are related to that transect.
A duplicated LineNo indicates more than one species were observed at the same time.
Records include 'off-effort' sightings as well. Card F indicates that the observation was recorded while off-effort.
When searching for a specific species, note that some records don't identify animals observed at a species level. If this is the case, the common/scientific name may be genus/family or higher (e.g., Balaenoptera sp.).
A transect may consist of several segments when the aircraft goes off effort while on the transect.
Observations associated with Transect 99 are not a part of the survey in a strict sense.

Overview

The dataset contains information necessary to locate the species sightings observed in the survey. The structure of the dataset was defined by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Note that the dataset is a subset of the larger, complete dataset collected in the survey which includes environmental information. The columns before LineNo are applied to the shapefile only. The following information is not included in the dataset but will be found in the master data. For details, please contact NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Track; Speed; GPS Status; Observers; Airplane altitude; Weather; Sea state; Turbidity; Sunlight; Glare; Water color; Water temperature; Sighting angle; Effort status.

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
lineno	Line number
card	Card
studyblock	Study block
part	definition not provided
date	Date of the observation
time	Time of the observation (local time)
longitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
latitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
track	Track No
speed	Speed
gpsstatus	GPS status
leftobs	Left observer
rightobs	Right observer
datarcdr	definition not provided
altitude	Altitude in feet
weather	Weather code
seastate	Sea state
turbidity	Turbidity
sunlight	Sunlight
glare	Glare
watercolor	Water color
watertemp	Water temperature in degree Celsius
sightobs	Observer sighted
sightangle	Angle
sightinc	definition not provided
species	Species name
tsn	ITIS Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
common	Common name
scientific	Scientific name
herdsize	Group size
nocalves	Number of calves
effortstat	Effort status
transectno	Transect No
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)