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Tethys Research Institute aerial survey cetacean sightings 2009-2011
Citation
Lanfredi, C., Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., Kot, C. 2011. Tethys Research Institute aerial survey cetacean sightings 2009-2011. Tethys Research Institute. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/3081

Access data
Archived data

Also accessible through:
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Description
Aerial survey cetacean sightings between 2009 and 2011 in the Pelagos Sanctuary, the Central Tyrrhenian, the Corsica and Sardinia Seas, the Ionian Sea and the Gulf of Taranto. more

Monitoring abundance and distribution is essential in any conservation strategy, but is often ignored in many regions, including much of the Mediterranean. It is a priority of the Italian Ministry of the Environment, who funded a series of aerial surveys around Italy, to provide significant baseline information on cetaceans distribution and abundance. The covered areas included the Pelagos Sanctuary, the Central Tyrrhenian, the Corsica and Sardinia Seas, and the Ionian Sea and the Gulf of Taranto. Numbers of animals within the Sanctuary are significantly higher in summer, when human activities and thus potential population level impacts are highest. A crude comparison with data from past shipboard surveys suggests an appreciable decrease in fin whale density in the Pelagos Sanctuary area over the last decade, reiterating the need for a major synoptic basinwide survey, as well as regular monitoring surveys. The low CVs and Cis reconfirm the effectiveness of aerial surveys in estimating abundance of certain cetacean species in suitable areas/circumstances and may provide a model for other areas of the Mediterranean. These surveys provide baseline data to develop efficient long-term systematic monitoring programmes, as required by a number of national and international frameworks. The collected data may also be crucial in assessing whether ship strikes, one of the main causes of death for fin whales in the Mediterranean, are affecting the Mediterranean population. Effort data are from 2009 only. When time and observed counts were not available, "00:00:00" and "1" was filled in, respectively.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Mammals
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Aerial surveys, Cetacea, Marine mammals, MED, Ionian Sea, MED, Italy, Sardinia, MED, Italy, Taranto Gulf, MED, Pelagos Sanctuary, MED, Tyrrhenian Sea, Cetacea

Geographical coverage
MED, Ionian Sea Stations [Marine Regions]
The Ionian Sea
MED, Italy, Sardinia Stations [Marine Regions]
Sardinian Sea
MED, Italy, Taranto Gulf Stations [Marine Regions]
The Gulf of Taranto
MED, Pelagos Sanctuary
MED, Tyrrhenian Sea Stations [Marine Regions]
The Central Tyrrhenian Sea

Temporal coverage
12 January 2009 - 19 January 2011

Taxonomic coverage
Cetacea [WoRMS]

Parameter
Animal sightings

Contributors
Tethys Research Institute, moredata provider

Related datasets
Published in:
EurOBIS: European Ocean Biodiversity Information System, more
OBIS-SEAMAP: Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations, more

Publication
Based on this dataset
Panigada, S. et al. (2011). Monitoring winter and summer abundance of cetaceans in the Pelagos Sanctuary (Northwestern Mediterranean Sea) through aerial surveys. PLoS One 6(7): e22878. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022878, more

Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Data origin: Research: field survey
Metadatarecord created: 2012-05-14
Information last updated: 2022-08-12
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