Cetacean visual observations using line-transect survey methods onboard the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter (GU) in the Gulf of America, for the Vessel Surveys for Abundance and Distribution of Marine Mammals and Seabirds project (VSAD survey GU2402) from 2024-06-03 to 2024-08-12 (NCEI Accession 0299731)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: May 06, 2026 at 03:29 AM | Dataset Last Updated: June 05, 2025 at 12:00 AM

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 America 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.

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description	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 America 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.
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identifier	https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/accessions/iso/xml/0299731.xml
issued	2024-12-09T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword	[ "0299731", "biological data", "Biopsy", "cetacean", "dolphins", "images", "MARINE MAMMALS", "sea turtles", "species abundance", "BIG EYE BINOCULARS", "dart biopsy gun", "Distance Sampling", "line transect sampling", "photograph", "visual estimate", "visual observation", "biological", "in situ", "marine mammal observation", "survey - biological", "visual estimate", "visual observation", "NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter", "NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center Miami Laboratory", "NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center Pascagoula Laboratory", "NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center Miami Laboratory", "Gulf of America", "Gulf of Mexico", "oceanography", "DOC/NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC > Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce", "University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS)", "Vessel Surveys for Abundance and Distribution of Marine Mammals and Seabirds (VSAD)", "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION", "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CETACEANS", "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MARINE MAMMALS", "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MARINE MAMMALS > DOLPHINS", "EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > REPTILES > TURTLES > SEA TURTLES", "ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS", "BALEEN WHALES", "BIG EYE BINOCULARS", "BIOLOGICAL DATA", "BIOPSY", "CAMERA", "CETACEAN", "DISTANCE SAMPLING", "DOC/NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC", "DOLPHINS", "ENDANGERED SPECIES", "GULF OF AMERICA", "GULF OF MEXICO", "INDICATOR SPECIES", "In Situ/Laboratory Instruments", "LINE TRANSECT SAMPLING", "MARINE MAMMALS", "PHOTOGRAPH", "POPULATION ABUNDANCE", "SHIPS", "SIGHTING", "SPECIES ABUNDANCE", "SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS", "SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS", "TOOTHED WHALES", "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", "VISUAL OBSERVATION", "Atlantic spotted dolphin", "Baleen whales", "Beaked whales", "Beaked whales of the genus Mesoplodon", "Blainville's beaked whale", "Cetacean (large)", "Cetacean (small)", "Clymene dolphin", "Common bottlenose dolphin", "Common bottlenose or Atlantic spotted dolphin", "Cuvier's beaked whale", "Delphinidae", "Dolphins of the genus Stenella", "Dwarf sperm whale", "False killer whale", "Gervais' beaked whale", "Melon-headed or Pygmy killer or False killer whale", "Melon-headed or Pygmy killer whale", "Melon-headed whale", "Pantropical spotted dolphin", "Pilot whales", "Pygmy killer whale", "Pygmy or Dwarf sperm whale", "Pygmy sperm whale", "Rice's whale", "Risso's dolphin", "Rough-toothed dolphin", "Sperm whale", "Spinner dolphin", "Striped dolphin", "Toothed whales", "Balaenoptera ricei", "Caretta caretta", "Cetacea", "Chelonia mydas", "Cheloniidae", "Delphinidae", "Dermochelys coriacea", "Feresa attenuata", "Globicephala", "Grampus griseus", "Istiophoridae", "Kogia", "Kogia breviceps", "Kogia sima", "Mesoplodon", "Mesoplodon densirostris", "Mesoplodon europaeus", "Mysticeti", "Odontoceti", "Peponocephala electra", "Peponocephala electra or Feresa attenuata", "Peponocephala electra or Feresa attenuata or Pseudorca crassidens", "Physeter macrocephalus", "Pseudorca crassidens", "Sphyrnidae", "Stenella", "Stenella attenuata", "Stenella clymene", "Stenella coeruleoalba", "Stenella frontalis", "Stenella longirostris", "Steno bredanensis", "Thunnus", "Thunnus thynnus", "Tursiops truncatus", "Tursiops truncatus or Stenella frontalis", "Ziphiidae", "Ziphius cavirostris", "BIG EYE BINOCULARS", "Dart Biopsy Gun", "Distance Sampling", "Line Transect Sampling", "VISUAL OBSERVATIONS > VISUAL OBSERVATIONS", "Ships", "Ships", "GORDON GUNTER (call sign: WTEO, ICES code: 33GG, 1998-)", "OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF AMERICA", "OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF MEXICO", "08CYHB" ]
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license	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified	2025-06-05T00:00:00.000+00:00
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references	[ "https://doi.org/10.25923/ag4f-zf67" ]
rights	otherRestrictions
spatial	-83.25461,24.29893,-96.5376233,30.054395
temporal	2024-06-03T00:00:00+00:00/2024-08-12T00:00:00+00:00
title	Cetacean visual observations using line-transect survey methods onboard the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter (GU) in the Gulf of America, for the Vessel Surveys for Abundance and Distribution of Marine Mammals and Seabirds project (VSAD survey GU2402) from 2024-06-03 to 2024-08-12 (NCEI Accession 0299731)

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