Abstract:

Visual surveys and behavioral ethograms of cetaceans were conducted on-board the R/V Pelican during Summer, 2017. Two big eye binoculars, handheld binoculars and naked eye observations were conducted from approximately 7:00AM - 7:00PM CST daily. Observations are reported in GMT for comparison.

Suggested Citation:

Danielle Greenhow. 2017. Cetacean visual and behavioral observation data from the Northern Gulf of Mexico June 9-16, 2017. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7BK19QW

Purpose:

Visual observations were recorded to analyze visual detections from year to year and to aid species identification for acoustic detections on the ASV towed hydrophone array.

Data Parameters and Units:

encounter number, date (MM/DD/YYYY), observers (initials), time of day (GMT), boat speed (kts), environmental conditions (weather, sea state, glare, cloud cover), water depth (m), latitude (DDM north), longitude (DDM east) species, behavioral cue for sighting, group size, adults/calves/juveniles present (count), behaviors displayed during sighting, distance to RV (nm; distance from group/individual to the research vessel), position to RV (degrees; position of the group/individual to the heading of the research vessel from the big eye binoculars)

Individual Files: