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DFO Maritimes Region Cetacean Sightings
Citation
Harris, Lei E. (2014). DFO Maritimes Region Cetacean Sightings. Version 5 In OBIS Canada Digital Collections. Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada. Published by OBIS, Digital http://www.iobis.org/. Accessed on –INSERT DATE. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/4125
Contact: Harris, Lei

Access data
Archived data
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Description
This is an OBIS formatted version of the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Maritimes Region database for visual sightings of cetaceans (e.g. whales, dolphins and porpoises) and other large pelagic animals (e.g. fish and turtles) mostly from the Scotian Shelf/Bay of Fundy portions of Canada's east coast. The collectors of these sightings are diverse (e.g. NGO researchers, fisheries observers, private consultants, etc), mostly on-board ship and mostly collected since the late 1990s. The horizontal resolution of the data (e.g. distance between sightings) varies by a vast amount - just metres in some areas like the Bay of Fundy, and tens to thousands of kilometers elsewhere, like off northern Labrador. A small portion of the database (e.g. DFO Survey) are standardized marine mammal survey data, where a line transect sightings survey is conducted and sightings effort is logged. more

Only these survey data allow for the calculation of Sightings Per Unit Effort and the use of Distance Sampling methods, leading to a statistically-based, unbiased abundance estimate. The design and structure of the main project database is consistent with other DFO databases and with the University of Rhode Island (URI) whale sightings database. Departures from the URI standard (mainly species and gear codes) are easily translated by users of either database. This database is a compilation of a number of datasets, most of the data being gathered opportunistically. More detailed information on the individual sightings, human interactions and animal behaviour are available from the source database and the resource creator should be contacted.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Mammals
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, ANW, Atlantic, Scotian Shelf, ANW, Canada, Fundy Bay, ANW, Greenland, West, PNW, Beaufort Sea, PNW, USA, Alaska, Mammalia, Actinopterygii, Aves, Cetacea, Elasmobranchii, Reptilia

Geographical coverage
ANW, Atlantic, Scotian Shelf [Marine Regions]
ANW, Canada, Fundy Bay [Marine Regions]
ANW, Greenland, West [Marine Regions]
PNW, Beaufort Sea [Marine Regions]
PNW, USA, Alaska [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
From 1 July 1966 on [In Progress]

Taxonomic coverage
Mammalia [WoRMS]
Actinopterygii [WoRMS]
Aves [WoRMS]
Cetacea [WoRMS]
Elasmobranchii [WoRMS]
Reptilia [WoRMS]

Parameters
Animal sightings
Occurrence of biota

Contributors
Government of Canada; Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), moredata creator
Government of Canada; Department of Fisheries and Oceans; Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), moredata creator

Related datasets
Published in:
OBIS-Canada: Canadian Ocean Biodiversity Information System, more

Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Data collection
Metadatarecord created: 2013-03-08
Information last updated: 2015-06-11
All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy