Purpose:
The primary objective of this survey is to determine the feasibility
of the Circle-back method that estimates abundance of cetaceans and turtles
which includes an estimate of g(0), the probability of detecting a group on the
track line. First, the practice issues of conducting the survey in the field
will be assessed, then the analytical issues will be investigated after the
data are collected.
... The secondary objective is to estimate the abundance of
animals using this new method. The third objective is to collect surface water
temperature information during the survey to be used in a description of the
habitat of the different species of cetaceans and turtles.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Data correction 03/08/06
Humback whale was mistakenly linked to Balaenidae (180531). It is now linked to
Megaptera novaeangliae (180530). In addition to the sighting data, effort data
was recorded every half hour or whenever conditions change. This dataset,
therefore, should be used with the effort data.
CURRENTNESS REFERENCE: ground condition
SPATIAL REFERENCE INFORMATION -
GEODETIC MODEL
Horizontal Datum Name: D_WGS_1984
Ellipsoid Name: WGS_1984
Semi-major Axis: 6378137.000000
Denominator of Flattening Ratio: 298.257224 
