Abstract:
Southeast Cetacean Aerial Survey, SECAS, was conducted in 1995 by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) to estimate Cetaceans abundance. This data set contains sightings of cetaceans and sea turtles as well as other species, including fish and shark, observed during the aerial survey. Marine mammals and sea turtles observed includes as follows. The full taxonomic information will be
... found in Taxonomy section.
<< Cetacean >>
Atlantic spotted dolphin
Cuvier's beaked whale
Humpback whale
Northern right whale
Pantropical spotted dolphin
Standard Bottlenose dolphin
Striped dolphin
<< Sea Turtle >>
Green turtle
Hardshell Kemp's ridley
Leatherback
Loggerhead
Survey's transects information is available in 'SECAS95Efforts.' Visual representation of this data set will be provided in the forms of ESRI's coverage and shapefile. 
Purpose:
The purpose of this data set was to collect Cetacean distribution data and allow for estimating Cetacean abundance in the Southeast. These abundance estimates were expected to serve as a basis for estimating Potential Biological Removals (PBR) for the species stocks in the region in support of Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requirements. More specifically, the survey was to obtain an index
... of abundance for Tursiops truncatus so as to detect population trends by comparison with historical abundance data (SETS).
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Records with no common name are some pollution observed (e.g. plastic). Records were assigned a sequential number LineNo. LineNo can be used to match observations with corresponding transects, each of which has BegLineNo and EndLineNo fields. Observation records with their LineNo between BegLineNo and EndLineNo in a transect are related to that transect. A duplicated LineNo indicates more than one species were observed at the same time. Records include 'off-effort' sightings as well. Card F indicates that the observation was recorded while off-effort. When searching for a specific species, note that some records don't identify animals observed at a species level. If this is the case, the common/scientific name may be genus/family or higher (e.g. Balaenoptera sp.). A transect may consist of several segments when the aircraft goes off effort while on the transect. Observations associated with Transect 99 are not a part of the survey in a strict sense.
CURRENTNESS REFERENCE: ground condition
SPATIAL DATA ORGANIZATION INFORMATION
Direct Spatial Reference: Vector SDTS
Point and Vector Object Type: Entity point
Point and Vector Object Count: 875
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
NATIVE: Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.0 (Build 2195) Service Pack 4; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.3.0.800
