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Gomex Sperm Whale Survey 2000
Citation
Southeast Fisheries Science Center. 2000. Report of NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter Cruise 009, 27 June - 27 July 2000; Application of Sperm Whale Research techniques in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, A Pilot Study. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/4339

Access data
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Description
Gulf of Mexico Sperm Whale Survey was conducted by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center in June-July 2000. The survey consisted of several techniques including acoustic recording tag, visual survey, photo-ID, DNA sampling, behavioral observation and fecal sampling. This data set is the result of the visual survey. In total, 30 sightings of sperm whale were recorded in a 30 day survey period. more

As an endangered species, sperm whale is protected under Marine Mammal Protection Act. As such, the biological data on sperm whale is required to produce stock assessment reports. This survey was the pilot study to test and refine a wide range of sperm whale research techniques in Gulf of Mexico. The survey will contribute to answering the following research questions. 1. What are the effects of anthropogenic noise on the distribution, behavior and vocalization patterns of sperm whales? 2. What is the stock status of sperm whales that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico compared to the adjacent Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea? 3. Will surveys using both acoustic array methods and visual surveys improve the NMFS's abundance estimates of sperm whales in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico? 4. Is the group composition and social structure of sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico similar or different compared to sperm whales in other parts of the world? 5. How do sperm whales spatially use the Gulf of Mexico? Are there specific feeding, breeding, socializing and resting areas?

Scope
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal

Contributors
Federal Government of the United States of America; Department of Commerce; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Marine Fisheries Service; Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), moredata creator

Related datasets
Published in:
OBIS-SEAMAP: Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations, more

Publication
Based on this dataset
(2000). Cruise results. Sperm whale pilot study 2000 (SWY2K). NOAA ship Gordon Gunter cruise GU-00-04 (009) 27 June - 27 July 2000. National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center: Pascagoula. [diff. pag.] pp., more

URLs
Dataset information:

Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Metadatarecord created: 2013-06-26
Information last updated: 2014-07-01
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