Cascadia Research Blue Whale Photo IDs for US West Coast, 1972-2004

Cascadia Research Collective

Dataset credit

Cascadia Research

Contacts

RoleNameOrganization 
Primary contact John Calambokidis
Data entry Ei Fujioka Duke University

Citation

Abstract

This dataset consists of 6,560 sighting records, including at least 1,803 uniquely identified blue whales. These were collected by Cascadia Research and collaborators from the eastern North Pacific from 1975 through 2004 (data collection is continuing). The primary extent of this dataset includes waters off California, Oregon, and Washington from 1986 to 2004, which accounts for over 6,000 of the records. Additional sighting records are from other regions of the North Pacific including the Eastern Tropical Pacific, British Columbia, and Alaska. These data represent the most extensive database of blue whale sightings available from the waters off the western United States and have provided the primary information available on movements and abundance of eastern North Pacific blue whales. Effort was not evenly distributed throughout the region so sighting locations are biased towards areas of highest effort. ID field links resightings of the same individual.

Purpose

Data were gathered to document movements, population structure and abundance of blue whales in the eastern North Pacific (see Calambokidis and Barlow 2004, Calambokidis and Steiger 1997, Calambokidis et al. 1990).

Supplemental information

Updated on March 30, 2006, expanding the dataset up to 2004.

References

Calambokidis, J. and G.H. Steiger. 1997. Blue Whales. Worldlife Series Library. Voyager Press, MN. 72 pp.
Calambokidis, J., G.H. Steiger, J.C. Cubbage, K.C. Balcomb, C. Ewald, S. Kruse, R. Wells, and R. Sears. 1990. Sightings and movements of blue whales off central California 1986-88 from photo-identification of individuals. Report of the International Whaling Commission. Special Issue 12:342-348.

Attributes

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
series
researchgr
loccode
region
sub_area
locality
dateObserved date
timeObserved time
lat_s
lon_s
latLatitude of observation
longLongitude of observation
positionty
groupsize
numcalves
numids
groupbeh
photograph
quall
qualr
qualf
speciesSpecies observed
tsnSpecies ITIS TSN
oidUnique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
OBIS-SEAMAP ID99
Seabirds0
Marine mammals6,535
Sea turtles0
Rays and sharks0
Other species0
Non spatial25
Non species0
Total6,560
Date, Begin1975-12-01
Date, End2004-11-02
Temporal prec.111111
Latitude-14.43 - 59.28
Longitude168.94 - 279.39
Coord. prec.2 decimal digits
PlatformBoat
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortN/A
Traveled (km)0
0
Contr. through
Registered2006-07-10
Updated2013-08-13
StatusPublished
Sharing policy CC-BY-NC (Minimum)
Shared with OBIS
GBIF (via DOI)
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See metadata in FGDC XML
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