Realm: Marine
Climate: Temperate/Tropical
Biome: Multiple ecoregions
Central latitude: 24.896312
Central longitude: -76.292011
Duration: 19 years, from 1988 to 2008

4774 records

28 distinct species

Across the time series Tursiops truncatus is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

The Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation is a long-term study that has been documenting the occurrence. distribution. and abundance of marine mammals around the islands of The Bahamas since 1991. With more than 1900 marine mammal encounters in The Bahamas. we are providing the only comprehensive documentation of the marine mammal fauna in this part of the world. Our research is based on the use of systematic boat-based surveys for describing the distribution and habitat use of different marine mammal species. We employ photo-identification techniques for the recognition of individual whales and dolphins. and we have developed new statistical approaches for using these data to determine abundance estimates and occupancy patterns. This photographic sampling is complemented by the collection of skin and faecal samples for molecular genetic analysis. which are being used to assess levels of genetic diversity and investigate the structuring of marine mammal populations. The dataset presented here includes both marine mammal and turtle sightings. The dataset consists of 89 stranding records between 1944 and 2005. including 15 species with Cuvier?s beaked whale being the most common. Marine mammal sightings data includes 444 sightings between 1988 and 2005. including sightings reported from the public. The dataset includes 1.934 BMMS vessel encounters with marine mammals between 1991 and 2005. comprising 20 different species. with the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin representing 60% of all encounters. Finally. the dataset also includes 101 sightings of turtles comprising 3 different species between 1991 and 2005. Supplemental infomation: A sighting and an encounter is differentiated between where a sighting is when our vessel was unable to close in on the group of animals. and an encounter is when closing was successful and photographs / video recording of the animals were obtained. The dataset includes both encounters and sightings off transect (opportunistic) as well as reports from the public. On-transect sightings and encounters are provided in a different dataset. Use this dataset along with off-transect tracklines. Note that the original ship location data were recorded every minute whereas the tracklines were constructed using locations every five minutes to reduce the data size. Unit of abundance = IndCountInt, Unit of biomass = NA

Citation(s)

"Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation Opportunistic Sightings - OBIS SEAMAP". Available at: http://www.iobis.org, accessed 2012.