Purpose:
Although harbor porpoises, Phocoena phocoena, are known to occur
throughout Alaska waters (Fiscus et al. 1976; Leatherwood and Reeves 1978;
Lawry et al. 1982; Leatherwood et al. 1983), few estimates of abundance exist.
In 1991, the National Marine Mammal Laboratory initiated a 3-yr study on Alaska
harbor porpoises. The objectives of this program were to: 1) Obtain minimum
... population estimates in coastal waters using line transect methodology with a
coefficient of variation for density estimates of less than 30% for each survey
area. 2) Establish a baseline for detecting changes in abundance through time,
for analysis of trends.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: Note: This dataset and associated effort data was
updated on Sept 8, 2005. Those who downloaded them before that date should
renew them. During the present study, it was not fiscally possible to survey
all areas of the state in any one year. Accordingly, we selected sections of
the state to survey in consecutive years to maximize the likelihood of
including all of the animals for a particular area surveyed while minimizing
the likelihood of significant movement between areas among survey years.
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 
