Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - OPA 2016

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published by OBIS-SEAMAP on Oct 8, 2025 OBIS-SEAMAP
Home:
https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1817
Publication date:
8 October 2025
Published by:
OBIS-SEAMAP
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 54,550 records in English (3 MB) - Update frequency: not planned
Metadata as an EML file download in English (49 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (22 KB)

Description

Original provider: NYSERDA, APEM, Normandeau Associates Dataset credits: NYSERDA, APEM, Normandeau Associates Abstract: In support of New York State's commitment to incorporating offshore wind into its energy portfolio, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) embarked on a multi-year ultrahigh-resolution aerial digital survey of marine resources in a 12,650 square nautical mile offshore planning area (OPA) in 2016. The OPA encompasses the waters of the New York Bight from Long Island southeast to the continental shelf break. Surveys are conducted on a quarterly basis, timed to coincide with periods of abundance of avian and marine species vulnerable to impacts from offshore wind activities. This report summarizes the results of the first two surveys conducted in July–August and November 2016. Each survey collected images covering at least 7% of the OPA. Of the more than 700,000 images collected within the survey area during these two surveys, 3.8% (27,135 images) contained organisms, including 38 bird, 17 fish, 5 whales, 7 dolphin, 1 seal, and 4 sea turtle species. Some seasonal patterns were evident. During the summer survey, the vast majority of the organisms observed were rays (8,388 images) or birds (1,893 images). During the fall survey, birds predominated (12,352 images). Shearwaters, storm-petrels, and terns were substantially more abundant in the summer while ducks, gannets, gulls and phalaropes were substantially more abundant in the fall. Turtles, sharks, and large bony fishes were all most abundant in the summer, though present in the fall. Number of images with marine mammals was similar in both surveys. Spatial patterns were apparent in some taxonomic groups. A number of species tended to occur in nearshore waters including large gulls and least, royal and Sterna terns. Turtles typically occurred inshore of the 70 m isobath. Audubon's, sooty, and Cory's shearwaters clustered in the northeast corner of the OPA. Whales, Audubon's shearwaters, and black-capped petrels were most common near the shelf break. While sharks exhibited no clear patterns, rays showed some tendency to cluster off the mouth of New York Harbor. Large bony fishes typically occurred in deeper waters. Results from the surveys will be incorporated into efforts to identify suitable areas for development of offshore wind projects.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 54,550 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Vukovich, M. 2020. Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - OPA 2016. Version 1.2.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/9a79fb37.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is OBIS-SEAMAP. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: f8863ab9-84d6-4c08-b558-4439eeffeadb.  OBIS-SEAMAP publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation; Marine Biology; Visual sighting; Marine Animal Survey; Seabirds; Marine mammals; Sea turtles; Visual Sighting; Aircraft; Occurrence

External data

The resource data is also available in other formats

OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1817 UTF-8 Interactive map
FGDC Metadata https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1817/fgdc UTF-8 XML
EML Metadata https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1817/eml UTF-8 XML

Contacts

Michelle Vukovich
  • Owner ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Primary contact
Normandeau Associates, Inc.
OBIS-SEAMAP
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Distributor
Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University
  • A328 LSRC building
27708 Durham
NC
US

Geographic Coverage

Oceans,North Atlantic,New York Bight

Bounding Coordinates South West [38.453, -73.919], North East [41.076, -70.567]

Taxonomic Coverage

Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Class Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous fishes), Mammalia (Mammals)
Subclass Elasmobranchii (Cartilaginous fishes)
Order Cetacea (Cetaceans), Ciconiiformes (Ciconiiformes), Myliobatiformes (stingrays), Perciformes (perch-like fishes)
Suborder Caniformia (Pinnipeds)
Family Alcidae (Murres), Anatidae (Ducks), Carcharhinidae (requiem sharks), Centrarchidae (Sunfishes), Cheloniidae (Sea turtles), Delphinidae (Dolphins), Gaviidae (Divers), Istiophoridae (Billfishes), Laridae (Gulls), Phalacrocoracidae (Cormorants), Procellariidae (Fulmars / petrels / shearwaters), Sphyrnidae (Bonnethead sharks)
Genus Globicephala (Pilot whales), Melanitta (Scoters), Mesoplodon (Beaked whales), Oceanodroma (Dark storm petrels), Phalaropus (Phalaropes), Sterna (Typical Terns), Uria (Murres)
Species Alca torda (Razorbill), Alle alle (Dovekie), Alopias vulpinus (thresher shark), Anas strepera (Gadwall), Aythya affinis (Lesser scaup), Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Common minke whale), Balaenoptera musculus (Blue whale), Balaenoptera physalus (Fin whale), Branta canadensis (Canada goose), Bucephala albeola (Bufflehead), Bucephala clangula (Common goldeneye), Calonectris diomedea (Cory's shearwater), Carcharhinus longimanus (Oceanic whitetip shark), Carcharhinus obscurus (Dusky shark), Carcharodon carcharias (Great white shark), Caretta caretta (Loggerhead sea turtle), Cepphus grylle (Black guillemot), Cetorhinus maximus (Basking shark), Chelonia mydas (Green sea turtle), Chlidonias niger (Black tern), Chroicocephalus philadelphia (Bonaparte's gull), Clangula hyemalis (Long-tailed duck), Coryphaena hippurus (Dolphinfish), Dasyatis say (Bluntnose stingray), Delphinus delphis (Short-beaked common dolphin), Dermochelys coriacea (Leatherback sea turtle), Eubalaena glacialis (North Atlantic right whale), Fratercula arctica (Atlantic puffin), Fulmarus glacialis (Northern fulmar), Galeocerdo cuvier (Tiger shark), Gavia immer (Common loon), Gavia stellata (Red-throated loon), Grampus griseus (Risso's dolphin), Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Bald eagle), Halichoerus grypus (Atlantic gray seal), Hydrocoloeus minutus (Little gull), Isurus oxyrinchus (Shortfin mako), Lagenorhynchus acutus (Atlantic white-sided dolphin), Larus argentatus (Herring gull), Larus delawarensis (Ring-billed gull), Larus fuscus (Lesser black-backed gull), Larus glaucoides (Iceland gull), Larus hyperboreus (Glaucous gull), Larus marinus (Great black-backed gull), Lepidochelys kempii (Kemp's ridley), Leucophaeus atricilla (Laughing gull), Manta birostris (Atlantic manta), Masturus lanceolatus (Sharptail mola), Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback whale), Melanitta fusca (Velvet scoter), Melanitta nigra (Black scoter), Melanitta perspicillata (Surf scoter), Mergus serrator (Red-breasted merganser), Mobula mobular (Giant devil ray), Mobula tarapacana (Sicklefin devil ray), Mola mola (Ocean sunfish), Morus bassanus (Northern gannet), Oceanites oceanicus (Wilson's storm petrel), Oceanodroma castro (Band-rumped storm petrel), Oceanodroma leucorhoa (Leach's storm petrel), Pagophilus groenlandicus (Harp seal), Pandion haliaetus (Osprey), Pelecanus occidentalis (Brown pelican), Phalacrocorax auritus (Double-crested cormorant), Phalaropus fulicarius (Red phalarope), Phalaropus lobatus (Red-necked phalarope), Phoca vitulina (Harbor seal), Phocoena phocoena (Harbor porpoise), Physeter macrocephalus (Sperm whale), Pluvialis squatarola (Black-bellied plover), Podiceps auritus (Horned grebe), Prionace glauca (Blue shark), Pterodroma arminjoniana (Herald petrel), Pterodroma hasitata (Black-capped petrel), Puffinus gravis (Great shearwater), Puffinus griseus (Sooty shearwater), Puffinus lherminieri (Audubon's shearwater), Rachycentron canadum (Cobia), Rhincodon typus (Whale shark), Rhinoptera bonasus (Cownose ray), Rissa tridactyla (Black-legged kittiwake), Somateria spectabilis (King eider), Sphyrna lewini (Scalloped hammerhead), Sphyrna mokarran (great hammerhead), Sphyrna zygaena (Smooth hammerhead), Squalus acanthias (Piked dogfish), Stenella coeruleoalba (Striped dolphin), Stenella frontalis (Atlantic spotted dolphin), Steno bredanensis (Rough-toothed dolphin), Stercorarius maccormicki (South polar skua), Stercorarius parasiticus (Parasitic jaeger), Stercorarius pomarinus (Pomarine jaeger), Sterna dougallii (Roseate tern), Sterna hirundo (Common tern), Sternula antillarum (Least tern), Thalasseus maximus (Royal tern), Thunnus thynnus (Atlantic bluefin tuna), Tursiops truncatus (Common bottlenose dolphin), Uria aalge (Common murre)

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 2016-07-26 / 2017-05-21

Project Data

No Description available

Title Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - OPA 2016
Funding NA

The personnel involved in the project:

Michelle Vukovich
  • Owner

Sampling Methods

NA

Study Extent NA

Method step description:

  1. NA

Collection Data

Collection Name zd_1817
Collection Identifier zd_1817
Parent Collection Identifier OBIS-SEAMAP

Bibliographic Citations

  1. APEM and Normandeau Associates prepared for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. 2018. Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - OPA 2016. Data downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP (http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1817) on yyyy-mm-dd https://remote.normandeau.com