Description
Original provider: Biodiversity Research Institute Dataset credits: Biodiversity Research Institute HiDef Aerial Surveying Limited Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Abstract: In April 2023, the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) commissioned HiDef Aerial Surveying Limited (HiDef) to conduct high-resolution digital video aerial surveys in the Gulf of Maine. The surveys aimed to record marine megafauna, seabirds, and human activity. The designated survey area is approximately 5 km off the coast of Maine A total of four surveys were conducted between May 2023 and January 2024. HiDef designed the survey using 2.5 km- and 5 km-spaced transects across the Gulf of Maine survey area, covering approximately 6,673 km². Surveys were undertaken using an aircraft equipped with four HiDef cameras with a sensor package designed and calibrated to achieve a resolution of 1.5cm Ground Sample Distance (GSD). Each camera sampled a strip of ~ 104m width, separated from the next camera by ~ 17m, to provide a combined sampled width of 416m within a 467m overall strip. All four cameras were analyzed, achieving approximately 10% coverage of the survey area during each flight. Data analysis followed a two-stage process in which video footage was reviewed (with a 20% random sample used for audit) and detected objects were identified to species or species group level (again with 20% selected at random for audit). The audit of both stages requires 90% agreement to be achieved. The surveys recorded a total of 7,248 birds of 33 species and 534 non-avian animals of 12 species, in addition to two dead birds. A further 409 birds and 58 non-avian animals were recorded which were not assigned to a species. An identification rate to species level of 94% was achieved throughout the survey period.
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 8,251 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:
Gilbert, A. 2025. Digital video aerial surveys of seabirds and marine megafauna in the Gulf of Maine from May 2023 to January 2024. Version 1.0.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/f863df46.
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: afdb36af-70e2-4553-bd9b-c129f212cfdc. 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; Fish; Digital Sighting; Aircraft; Occurrence
External data
The resource data is also available in other formats
| OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page | https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/2316 UTF-8 Interactive map |
|---|---|
| FGDC Metadata | https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/2316/fgdc UTF-8 XML |
| EML Metadata | https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/2316/eml UTF-8 XML |
Contacts
- Owner ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Primary contact
- Metadata Provider ●
- Distributor
- A328 LSRC building
Geographic Coverage
Oceans,North Atlantic Ocean
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [42.93, -69.821], North East [43.831, -68.759] |
|---|
Taxonomic Coverage
Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
| Family | Otariidae (Eared seals) |
|---|---|
| Species | Alle alle (Dovekie), Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Common minke whale), Balaenoptera physalus (Fin whale), Carcharodon carcharias (Great white shark), Cetorhinus maximus (Basking shark), Chlidonias niger (Black tern), Chroicocephalus philadelphia (Bonaparte's gull), Clangula hyemalis (Long-tailed duck), Delphinus delphis (Short-beaked common dolphin), Dermochelys coriacea (Leatherback sea turtle), Fratercula arctica (Atlantic puffin), Fulmarus glacialis (Northern fulmar), Gavia immer (Common loon), Gavia stellata (Red-throated loon), Halichoerus grypus (Atlantic gray seal), 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), Leucophaeus atricilla (Laughing gull), Melanitta nigra (Black scoter), Melanitta perspicillata (Surf scoter), Mola mola (Ocean sunfish), Morus bassanus (Northern gannet), Oceanites oceanicus (Wilson's storm petrel), Oceanodroma leucorhoa (Leach's storm petrel), Pandion haliaetus (Osprey), Phalacrocorax auritus (Double-crested cormorant), Phoca vitulina (Harbor seal), Phocoena phocoena (Harbor porpoise), Prionace glauca (Blue shark), Puffinus gravis (Great shearwater), Puffinus puffinus (Manx shearwater), Rissa tridactyla (Black-legged kittiwake), Somateria mollissima (Common eider), Sphyrapicus varius (Yellow-bellied Sapsucker), Stercorarius parasiticus (Parasitic jaeger), Sterna paradisaea (Arctic tern), Tringa melanoleuca (Greater yellowlegs) |
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2023-05-05 / 2024-01-04 |
|---|
Project Data
No Description available
| Title | Digital video aerial surveys of seabirds and marine megafauna in the Gulf of Maine from May 2023 to January 2024 |
|---|---|
| Funding | NA |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Owner
Sampling Methods
NA
| Study Extent | NA |
|---|
Method step description:
- NA
Collection Data
| Collection Name | zd_2316 |
|---|---|
| Collection Identifier | zd_2316 |
| Parent Collection Identifier | OBIS-SEAMAP |
Bibliographic Citations
- Stenhouse IJ, Ferguson MC, Gilbert AT, Adams EM, McElroy ME & Williams KA. (in review). 2025. Baseline Wildlife Surveys of the Gulf of Maine, 2023–2024. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Sterling, VAOCS Study BOEM 20xx-xxx,78 pp. IN REVIEW
Additional Metadata
marine, harvested by iOBIS. Survey effort (points) is included in the download.
| Purpose | In April 2023, the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) commissioned HiDef Aerial Surveying Limited (HiDef) to conduct high-resolution digital video aerial surveys in the Gulf of Maine. The surveys aimed to record marine megafauna, seabirds, and human activity. The designated survey area is approximately 5 km off the coast of Maine A total of four surveys were conducted between May 2023 and January 2024. HiDef designed the survey using 2.5 km- and 5 km-spaced transects across the Gulf of Maine survey area, covering approximately 6,673 km². |
|---|---|
| Alternative Identifiers | https://doi.org/10.82144/f863df46 |
| https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/2316 | |
| https://ipt.env.duke.edu/resource?r=zd_2316 |