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Cetacean, sea turtle, and seabird visual observations using line-transect survey methods from ships and aircraft during the Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GOMMAPPS) surveys from 2017 to 2020

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: October 13, 2025 | Last Modified: 2022-08-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
As part of the Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GOMMAPPS), the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) conducted seasonal shipboard surveys of the U.S. oceanic waters of the Gulf of Mexico out to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and aerial surveys of U.S. continental shelf waters (up to the 200-m isobath) from 2017 to 2020. During all cetacean and sea turtle surveys and for the seabird data collected from the plane, a two-team independent visual observer approach with distance sampling was used to estimate the detection probabilities, abundance, and characterize spatial distribution of the species or groups of species. For seabird data collected from the ship, a single team using standard, transect-based methodology was utilized. This collection of datasets includes cetacean, sea turtle, and seabird visual observation data and effort points with surveying conditions that can be used in abundance and density modeling per visual line-transect survey protocols. These datasets may also include opportunistic data and photographs of cetaceans and other taxa such as manatees, billfish, sharks, sea rays, sunfish, and other marine fishes, sargassum, and algal blooms. Raw and processed files from conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) casts, and expendable bathythermographs (XBT), performed during ship surveys may also be available for some surveys. This collection (GOMMAPPS) includes a total of 6 SEFSC surveys, including 3 ship-based and 3 aerial surveys. FWS surveys onboard NOAA vessels of opportunity (14) and the (4) aerial surveys were combined and archived under 2 separate accession numbers. All data can be individually accessed through the Granule Search below.

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0241032 0242273 0243468 0243469 0243654 0244002 0247205 0247206 0256800 ALGAL BLOOM PRESENCE biological data Biopsy BIRDS cetacean CONDUCTIVITY dolphins FLUORESCENCE MARINE MAMMALS OXYGEN SALINITY sea turtles SOUND VELOCITY species abundance SPECIES IDENTIFICATION SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - COUNT WATER DENSITY water depth WATER TEMPERATURE bathythermograph - XBT BIG EYE BINOCULARS binoculars camera CTD Distance Sampling inclinometer line transect sampling photograph video camera visual estimate visual observation aerial photography biological in situ marine mammal observation model output survey - biological visual estimate visual observation NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter NOAA Ship Oregon II NOAA Ship Pisces Bureau of Ocean Energy Management National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center SEFSC - Miami Lab SEFSC - Pascagoula/Stennis Lab United States Geological Survey University of Miami US Department of the Interior US DOI/Fish and Wildlife Service SEFSC - Miami Lab United States Geological Survey Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GOMMAPPS) Caribbean Sea Coastal Waters of Alabama Coastal Waters of Florida Coastal Waters of Louisiana Coastal Waters of Mississippi Coastal Waters of Texas Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Gulf of Mexico North Atlantic Ocean oceanography DOC/NOAA > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration DOC/NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC > Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce DOI > U.S. Department of the Interior DOI/BOEM DOI/USFWS > U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior DOI/USGS > U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior GOMMAPPS > Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GoMMAPPS) University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > BIRDS EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CETACEANS EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CETACEANS > BALEEN WHALES EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CETACEANS > TOOTHED WHALES EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MARINE MAMMALS EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MARINE MAMMALS > DOLPHINS EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > REPTILES > TURTLES > SEA TURTLES EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > COMMUNITY DYNAMICS > INDICATOR SPECIES EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > ENDANGERED SPECIES EARTH SCIENCE > CLIMATE INDICATORS > ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS EARTH SCIENCE > CLIMATE INDICATORS > PALEOCLIMATE INDICATORS > BIOLOGICAL RECORDS > POPULATION ABUNDANCE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > BATHYMETRY/SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY > WATER DEPTH EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN ACOUSTICS > ACOUSTIC VELOCITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CHEMISTRY > OXYGEN EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN OPTICS > FLUORESCENCE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > CONDUCTIVITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > DENSITY EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SALINITY/DENSITY > SALINITY Beaked whales (Ziphius and Mesoplodon spp.) Blackfish (Orcinus orca, Peponocephala electra, Feresa attenuata and Pseudorca crassidens combined) Clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) Kemp's Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) Oceanic Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) Oceanic Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) Pilot whales (Globicephala sp.) Pygmy or Dwarf sperm whales (Kogia spp.) Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) Shelf Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) Shelf Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) Atlantic spotted dolphin Clymene dolphin Common bottlenose dolphin Common bottlenose or Atlantic spotted dolphin Cuvier's beaked whale Dwarf sperm whale False killer whale Fraser's dolphin Gervais' beaked whale Killer whale Melon-headed or Pygmy killer or False killer whale Melon-headed or Pygmy killer whale Melon-headed whale Pantropical spotted dolphin Pilot whales Pygmy killer whale Pygmy or Dwarf sperm whale Rice's whale Risso's dolphin Rough-toothed dolphin Sei or Rice's or Fin whale Sei or Rice's whale Sperm whale Spinner dolphin Stenellid dolphin Striped dolphin West Indian manatee B. borealis/ricei Balaenoptera borealis/ricei/physalus Balaenoptera ricei Balaenoptera sp. Delphinidae Feresa attenuata Globicephala sp. Grampus griseus Kogia sima Kogia sp. Lagenodelphis hosei Mesoplodon europeaus Mesoplodon sp. Odontoceti Orcinus orca P. electra/F. attenuata P. electra/F. attenuata/P. crassidens Peponocephala electra Physeter macrocephalus Pseudorca crassidens Stenella attenuata Stenella clymene Stenella coeruleoalba Stenella frontalis Stenella longirostris Stenella sp. Steno bredanensis T. truncatus/S. frontalis Trichechus manatus Tursiops truncatus Ziphiidae Ziphius cavirostris Fish; Billfish sp. Fish; Flying Fish Fish; Hammerhead Shark Fish; Manta Ray Fish; Sunfish (Mola mola) Fish; Swordfish Fish; Tuna sp. Fish; Unid. Large Fish Fish; Unid. Ray Fish; Unid. Shark Fish_Rays; Manta Ray Fish_Rays; Unid. Ray Fish_Sharks; Hammerhead Shark Fish_Sharks; Unid. Shark Fish_Sharks; Whale Shark Other; Longline Fishing Gear Other; Red Tide - Continuous Other; Red Tide - Intermittent Other; Red Tide - Sparse Sargassum; Thin Line Turtles; Green Turtle Turtles; Hardshell Turtles; Kemp's Ridley Turtles; Leatherback Turtles; Loggerhead American White Pelican American coot American kestrel American redstart Atlantic spotted dolphin Audubon's shearwater Baltimore oriole Band-rumped storm-petrel Bank swallow Barn swallow Beaked whales (Ziphius and Mesoplodon spp.) Black Scoter Black Skimmer Black Tern Black-bellied Whisting-Duck Black-bellied plover Black-billed cuckoo Black-capped petrel Black-crowned night-heron Black-throated blue warbler Black-throated green warbler Blackfish (Orcinus orca, Peponocephala electra, Feresa attenuata and Pseudorca crassidens combined) Blackpoll warbler Blue-winged teal Blue-winged warbler Boat (fishing) Bobolink Bonaparte's Gull Bottlenose Dolphin Bridled tern Brown Boody Brown Noddy Brown Pelican Brown booby Brown-headed cowbird Bryde's whale Bufflehead Canvasback Cape May warbler Caspian Tern Cattle Egret Chimney swift Chipping sparrow Chuck-will's-widow Cliff swallow Clymene dolphin Clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) Common Loon Common nighthawk Common tern Common yellowthroat Cory's Shearwater Cuvier's Beaked whale Dabbling Duck sp Double-crested Cormorant Duck sp Eastern kingbird Eastern wood-pewee Eurasian Collared-dove False killer whale Fea's petrel Forage Fish Forster's tern Gadwall Gray catbird Great Black-backed Gull Great Blue Heron Great Egret Great shearwater Greater scaup Grebe sp Green Heron Green Sea Turtle Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) Green turtle Gull sp Gull-billed tern Hammerhead Shark Hawksbill Sea Turtle Heron/Egret sp Herring Gull Hooded Merganser Hooded warbler Indigo bunting Jaeger sp Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Kemp's Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) Kemp's ridley turtle Laughing Gull Leach's storm-petrel Least Tern Least sandpiper Leatherback Sea Turtle Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Leatherback turtle Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Scaup Lesser yellowlegs Little Blue Heron Loggerhead Sea Turtle Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) Loggerhead turtle Long-tailed jaeger Loon sp Louisiana waterthrush Magnificent frigatebird Magnificient Frigatebird Magnolia warbler Mahi mahi Manta Ray Manx shearwater Masked Booby Merlin Mola mola Mottled Duck Mourning dove Nashville warbler Neotropic cormorant Northern Gannet Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler Northern rough-winged swallow Northern waterthrush Oceanic Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) Oceanic Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Oceanic front Oil slick Orchard oriole Osprey Ovenbird Palm warbler Pantropical spotted dolphin Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) Parasitic jaeger Peregrine falcon Petrel/Shearwater sp Phalarope sp Pilot whales (Globicephala sp.) Pomarine jaeger Prothonotary warbler Purple martin Pygmy or Dwarf sperm whales (Kogia spp.) Red phalarope Red-billed tropicbird Red-breasted Merganser Red-footed booby Red-necked phalarope Red-throated loon Redhead Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) Ring-billed gull Ring-necked Duck Risso's dolphin Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) Rock pigeon Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Tern Rough-toothed dolphin Royal Tern Ruby-throated hummingbird Ruddy turnstone Sanderling Sandwich tern Sargassum Scarlet tanager Scaup sp Scoter sp Sea/Diving Duck sp Semipalmated sandpiper Shelf Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) Shelf Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Short-eared owl Short-finned pilot whale Snowy Egret Sooty Tern Sooty/Bridled Tern sp Sooty/Bridled tern South Polar skua Sperm Whale Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Spinner dolphin Spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) Spotted sandpiper Storm-Petrel sp Striped dolphin Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) Sulid sp Surf Scoter Teal sp Tern sp Tree swallow Trichodesmium Tricolored Heron Tropical kingbird Turkey Vulture Veery Vulture sp West Indian Manatee Western sandpiper Whale Shark Whimbrel White Ibis White-crowned pigeon White-rumped sandpiper White-tailed tropicbird White-winged Scoter White-winged dove Wilson's Storm-Petrel Wilson's warbler Wood Stork Yellow warbler Yellow-billed cuckoo Yellow-breasted chat Yellow-crowned night-heron Yellow-headed blackbird Yellow-rumped warbler Actitis macularius Anas acuta Anas clypeata Anas fulvigula Anas strepera Anous stolidus Antrostomus carolinensis Archilochus colubris Ardea herodias Arenaria interpres Asio flammeus Aythya affinis Aythya americana Aythya collaris Aythya marila Aythya valisineria Balaenoptera edeni Bucephala albeola Bulbulcus ibia Butorides virescens Calidris alba Calidris fuscicollis Calidris mauri Calidris minutilla Calidris pusilla Calomectris diomedea Cardellina pusilla Caretta caretta Cathartes aura Catharus fuscescens Chaetura pelagica Chelonia mydas Chlidonias niger Chordeiles minor Chroicocephalus philadelphia Coccyzus americanus Coccyzus erythropthalmus Columba livia Contopus virens Coryphaena hippurus Dendrocygna autumnalis Dermochelys coriacea Dolichonyx oryzivorus Dumetella carolinensis Egretta alba Egretta caerulea Egretta thula Egretta tircolor Eretmochelys imbricata Eudocimus albus Falco columbarius Falco peregrinus Falco sparverius Fregata magnificens Fulica americana Gavia immer Gavia stellata Gelochelidon nilotica Geothlypis trichas Globicephala macrorhynchus Grampus griseus Hirundo rustica Hydroprogne caspia Icteria virens Icterus galbula Icterus spurius Larus argentatus Larus delawarensis Larus fuscus Larus marinus Leiothlypis ruficapilla Lepidochelys kempii Leucophaeus atricilla Lophodytes cucullatus Manta sp Melanitta americana Melanitta fusca Melanitta perspicillata Mergus serrator Mola mola Molothrus ater Morus bassanus Mycteria americana Numenius phaeopus Nyctanassa violacea Nycticorax nycticorax Oceanites oceanicus Oceanodroma castro Oceanodroma leucorboa Onchyoprion anaethetus Onchyoprion fuscatus Pandion haliaetus Parkesia motacilla Parkesia noveboracensis Passerina cyanea Patagioenas leucocephala Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Pelecanus occidentalis Petrochelidon pyrrhonota Phaethon aethereus Phaethon lepturus Phalacrocorax auritus Phalacrocorax brasilianus Phalaropus fulicarius Phalaropus lobatus Physeter macrocephalus Physeter microcephalus Piranga olivacea Platalea ajaja Pluvialis squatarola Progne subis Protonotaria citrea Pseudorca crassidens Pterodrama hasitata Pterodroma feae Puffinus gravis Puffinus lherminieri Puffinus puffinus Rhincodon typus Rhyncops niger Riparia riparia Seiurus aurocapilla Setophaga caerulescens Setophaga citrina Setophaga coronata Setophaga magnolia Setophaga palmarum Setophaga petechia Setophaga ruticilla Setophaga striata Setophaga tigrina Setophaga virens Spatula discors Sphyrnidae sp Spizella passerina Stelgidopteryx serripennis Stenella attenuata Stenella clymene Stenella coeruleoalba Stenella frontalis Stenella longirostris Steno bredanensis Stercorarius longicaudus Stercorarius maccormicki Stercorarius parasiticus Stercorarius pomarinus Sterna dougallii Sterna forsteri Sterna hirundo Sternula antillarum Streptopelia decaocto Sula dactylatra Sula leucogaster Sula sula Tachycineta bicolor Thalasseus maximus Thalasseus sandvicensis Trichechus manatus Tringa flavipes Tursiops truncatus Tyrannus melancholicus Tyrannus tyrannus Vermivora cyanoptera Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus Zenaida asiatica Zenaida macroura Ziphius cavirostris POPULATION ABUNDANCE SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS species distribution BIG EYE BINOCULARS BINOCULAR > BINOCULAR CAMERA > CAMERA CTD > Conductivity, Temperature, Depth Distance Sampling INCLINOMETERS > INCLINOMETERS Line Transect Sampling VIDEO CAMERA > VIDEO CAMERA VISUAL OBSERVATIONS > VISUAL OBSERVATIONS XBT > Expendable Bathythermographs AIRCRAFT NOAA Twin Otter > NOAA De Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter Ships GORDON GUNTER (call sign: WTEO, ICES code: 33GG, 1998-) OREGON II (call sign: WTDO, ICES code: 316O, 1977-) PISCES (call sign: WTDL, ICES code: 334B, 2009-) DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft R/V Gordon Gunter R/V Oregon II R/V Pisces USFWS Quest Kodiak 100 Amphibious Aircraft CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > CARIBBEAN SEA OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF AMERICA OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF MEXICO EARTH SCIENCE SERVICES > MODELS > SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS 8CT13N 9WK7GK A679DE ALPGMN ARYMDB EU7CXU GL852K M0476T PECH82

Complete Metadata

describedByType application/octet-steam
identifier gov.noaa.nodc:GOMMAPPS
issued 2021-10-04T00:00:00.000+00:00
landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language []
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.25923/7hbn-jp82",
  "https://www.boem.gov/gommapps",
  "https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/population-assessments/marine-mammal-research-surveys-noaas-southeast-region",
  "https://doi.org/10.5066/p9c56ay1"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial -81.1479,23.8231,-97.5153,30.6468
temporal 2003-06-12T00:00:00+00:00/2020-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

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