Vessel Surveys for Abundance and Distribution of Marine Mammals and Seabirds project 2024 (GU2402)

Original provider: NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Dataset credits: NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Abstract: As part of the Vessel Surveys for Abundance and Distribution of Marine Mammals and Seabirds (VSAD) project, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) conducted a shipboard survey of the U.S. oceanic waters of the Gulf of Mexico out to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from 2024-06-03 to 2024-08-12. The survey was designed for a two-team independent visual observer approach with distance sampling to estimate the detection probabilities for marine mammal sightings. A sighting constituted a single or group of marine mammals (whales and dolphins) seen at the same location and time. This dataset includes marine mammal visual observation data and effort points with surveying conditions that can be used in abundance and density modeling per visual line-transect survey protocols. This dataset also includes opportunistic marine mammal photographs and biopsy samples, and non-marine mammal sightings (a.k.a. occurrences) such as sea turtles.