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Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey (extent)

Metadata Updated: July 12, 2025

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey. The Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey is part of the larger West Coast Marine Mammal Surveys started in 2021 and led by NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center. These surveys have a specific focus on small vessel surveys (Class II small vessel, 34-ft LOA) for marine mammals from the western Strait of Juan de Fuca south along the outer coast to Eureka, California. Although focal species vary from year-to-year, surveys have historically prioritized gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), and Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) given the program’s long-term survey efforts for these species. Since 2021, surveys from June through September now represent a substantial increase in both spatial coverage and frequency relative to historical surveys, documenting all opportunistic sightings of marine mammals independent of program priorities. Data are used to derive estimates of species-specific occurrence, density, abundance, and resource utilization. As the length of the time series improves, data will be leveraged to better understand environmental drivers of occurrence, abundance and density, phenology of migration, and the health/condition of individuals and populations.The Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey periodically samples marine mammals along coastal, shelf, and shelf edge ecosystems - out to approximately 20 nautical miles offshore - from northern Washington (including the western Strait of Juan de Fuca) to northern California. Periodic sampling efforts include collection of spatially explicit presence/absence data for all marine mammals, mark-resight observations of individually identifiable large whales (including gray whales, humpback whales, killer whales, blue whales, and fin whales) and Steller sea lions (from branded and tagged animals), boat-based tissue sampling of large whales, boat-based UAS surveys for enumerating pinnipeds at haulouts/rookeries along the PNW coast, and UAS-based photogrammetry for measuring body condition in large whales and pinnipeds.

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Date July 2, 2025
Metadata Created Date July 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date July 12, 2025
Reference Date(s) May 1, 2025 (publication)
Frequency Of Update asNeeded

Metadata Source

Harvested from NMFS NWFSC

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date July 2, 2025
Metadata Created Date July 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date July 12, 2025
Reference Date(s) May 1, 2025 (publication)
Responsible Party (Point of Contact, Custodian)
Contact Email
Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:75796
Access Constraints Cite As: Northwest Fisheries Science Center, [Date of Access]: Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey (extent) [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/75796., Use Constraints: *** No Warranty*** The user assumes the entire risk related to its use of these data. NMFS is providing these data "as is," and NMFS disclaims any and all warranties, whether express or implied, including (without limitation) any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. It is strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data to evaluate dataset limitations, restrictions or intended use. In no event will NMFS be liable to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages or lost profit resulting from any use or misuse of this data.
Bbox East Long -114.791625
Bbox North Lat 48.5111
Bbox South Lat 30.263765
Bbox West Long -129.464302
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update asNeeded
Harvest Object Id 0d5e0378-752b-442e-ab16-91d0a45854cb
Harvest Source Id ba43549f-8268-499d-bec8-91b164cb168f
Harvest Source Title NMFS NWFSC
Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
Lineage Data were loaded from source data into ArcGIS Pro and a definition query was used in order to isolate the survey of interest, then published to ArcGIS Online.
Metadata Language eng
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-129.464302, 30.263765], [-114.791625, 30.263765], [-114.791625, 48.5111], [-129.464302, 48.5111], [-129.464302, 30.263765]]]}
Progress underDevelopment
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System EPSG::3857
Spatial Harvester True
Temporal Extent Begin 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z
Temporal Extent End 2024-09-30T00:00:00Z

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