AFSC/NMML: Cetacean line-transect survey in the eastern Bering Sea shelf; 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2004

Visual surveys for cetaceans were conducted on the eastern Bering Sea shelf along transect lines, in association with the AFSC.s echo integration trawl surveys for walleye pollock. Surveys in 2000 and 2004 were from early June to early July, the survey in 2002 was from early June to late July, and the survey in 1999 was from early July to early August. Searches for cetaceans were conducted from the flying bridge of the NOAA ship Miller Freeman at a platform height of 12 m above the sea surface and survey speed of 18.5 22.0 km/h (10 12 kts). North south transect lines were spaced 37 km apart and defined by the historical acoustic survey for walleye pollock. Insufficient funding precluded including cetacean observers on all legs except in 2002. See Friday et al. 2012. Cetacean distribution and abundance in relation to oceanographic domains

on the eastern Bering Sea shelf: 1999-2004 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967064512000100).

The primary objective was to document the distribution of cetacean species occurring on the shelf of the eastern Bering Sea and to collect line-transect data for abundance estimation of cetacean species.

Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 7075, 09-15-2015 17:49

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

- Taxonomy (FGDC:taxonomy)

The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.

NOAA denies liability if the data are misused.

NODC Accession Number 0131862. Data are publicly accessible online via the NODC Ocean Archive System at http://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0131862.

There are no data access constraints.

User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. Acknowledgement

of NOAA/NMFS/AFSC, as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these, data is suggested.

spreadsheet

In 1999, 2002 and 2004, the survey program Wincruz was used to collect data (Windows Real Time Sighting-Effort Event Logger developed by Robert Holland at Southwest Fisheries Science Center). In 1999, the Wincruz version was a precursor to the one used in the following years. In 2000, Survey data were recorded using a Turbo PASCAL (Borland Software Corp., Austin, TX) language-based software. The software included a proprietary routine (Survey, Cascadia Research, Olympia, WA).

Accuracy was ensured by reviewing and editing the data in the field on a daily basis. Post cruise processing included data extraction and error checking using customized software for data collected in 2002 and 2004 (Paul Wade, National Marine Mammal Laboratory). Tracklines and sightings were plotted in ArcMap to check for accuracy.

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