AFSC/NMML: Platforms of Opportunity Program (POP): 1950 - present

The Platforms of Opportunity Program (POP) is an opportunistic marine mammal sighting program that dates back to the 1950s and includes over 108,000 sightings. Sightings have been submitted by a number of sources including: NOAA vessels, USCG vessels, USFWS vessels, various research vessels, and the NMFS commercial fishery observer program. While data for POP is collected on a not-to-interfere basis, the opportunistic sightings provided have greatly improved the understanding of marine mammal distribution. In general, POP data has been used to document both historic and present occurrence and distribution of marine mammals, help identify potential cruise routes for systematic marine mammal surveys, and aid in examining relationships between marine mammals and fisheries.

To gather opportunistic marine mammal sightings as supplemental information regarding marine mammal distribution, abundance and seasonality.

Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 6814, 08-12-2015 16:53

The following FGDC sections are not currently supported in InPort, but were preserved and will be included in the FGDC export:

- Taxonomy (FGDC:taxonomy)

Data is confidential and therefore not accessible.

For scientific, management, and regulation compliance purposes, all data collected by observers are confidential under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; as amended, Public Law 109-479; 16 U.S.C. 1853; implemented at 50 CFR 679.50. Therefore unprocessed (raw) data can be shared only with authorized persons; however aggregated forms of the data are generally available.

The user must adhere to restrictions placed on publication of data by the Magnuson-Stevens Act as amended in 2006.

Access

The data that is gathered for the POP come as sightings of opportunity. These incidental sightings are not collected systematically, and there is no standardized sampling technique used by the observer (Consiglieri 1982). Sightings are provided by a range of persons with varying levels of education, training, and experience in marine mammal identification.

The marine mammal identifications are evaluated by an experienced marine mammal scientist and is based on accuracy of the description or sketch, sighting cues, silhouette noted, time of day, distance, number of species sighted, sighting conditions, and Beaufort scale. If the evaluator arrives at the same conclusion as the observer, the sighting is considered confirmed. The accuracy of data entry is checked by plotting locations to get a visual confirmation that the locations of each sighting are plausible. Any sighting that is visually outside of normal range is checked individually against the sighting form. Multiple queries of new data are conducted in order to group data and quickly detect any outliers.

Data is confidential.

IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Western Regional Support Center in Seattle, Washington, following a disruption.