Aerial Survey Baseline Monitoring in the Continental Shelf Region of the VACAPES OPAREA: January 2016 - December 2016 (left side)

Sue Barco1, Gwen Lockhart2, OBIS-SEAMAP3

1 Virginia Marine Science Museum, ; 2 Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, ; 3 Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University, A328 LSRC building, 27708, Durham, United States

Corresponding author(s): Sue Barco (ocrab@erols.com)Gwen Lockhart (gwendolyn.lockhart@navy.mil), OBIS-SEAMAP (seamap-contact@duke.edu)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Mallette, S.D., R.J. McAlarney, G.G. Lockhart, E.W. Cummings, D.A. Pabst, W.A. McLellan, and S.G. Barco. 2017. Aerial Survey Baseline Monitoring in the Continental Shelf Region of the VACAPES OPAREA: January 2016 - December 2016. (left side data). Prepared for U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Submitted to Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, under Contract No. N62470-15-D-8006, Task Order 05. issued to HDR, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia. 1 February 2016.

Abstract

Original provider:
Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Foundation and University of North Carolina Wilmington

Dataset credits:
Mallette, S.D., R.J. McAlarney, G.G. Lockhart, E.W. Cummings, D.A. Pabst, W.A. McLellan, and S.G. Barco. 2017. Aerial Survey Baseline Monitoring in the Continental Shelf Region of the VACAPES OPAREA: January 2016 - December 2016. Draft Report. Prepared for U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Submitted to Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, under Contract No. N62470-15-D-8006, Task Order 05, issued to HDR, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia. 1 February 2016.

Abstract:
The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center Foundation, Inc. (VAQF) is tasked to conduct aerial surveys for the continental shelf region off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay within the Virginia Capes Operating Area (VACAPES OPAREA) to provide marine species monitoring services. In 2007, a multi-institutional project utilizing multiple platforms (i.e., aerial, vessel, and passive acoustic monitoring) aimed at protected species monitoring off the East Coast of the United States commenced. The current survey will complement existing United States (U.S.) Navy marine species monitoring efforts (Aerial Survey Baseline Monitoring- Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing) and supports environmental planning and regulatory compliance along the East Coast of the United States. 

This project represents the first year of U.S. Department of the Navy-funded aerial survey efforts off Virginia Beach, Virginia. These surveys build upon previous survey efforts funded by Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program to document large whale occurrence in the vicinity of the Virginia Wind Energy Area (VA WEA) and contribute to regional mid-Atlantic ocean planning efforts. VAQF in collaboration with University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) conducted line-transect aerial surveys from 2012 through 2016, although surveys were not flown every month or with consistent effort between years (Mallette et al. 2014, 2016). The goal of the current aerial survey project is to complement existing monitoring projects and contribute baseline protected species occurrence data, including species distribution; abundance; density estimates; and seasonal habitat usage. 

The survey site includes an approximately 6,500-square-kilometer area off the coast of Virginia extending from the southern portion of the eastern shore of Virginia to the North Carolina/Virginia state border. The aerial survey design was established based upon advisements from the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modeling (CREEM) at the University of St. Andrews and objectives identified by the U.S. Navy. VAQF conducted fixed-wing aerial line-transect surveys, using previously established distance-sampling protocols, to document the occurrence of marine mammals and sea turtles. VAQF worked closely with the UNCW to maintain consistency among the safety, flight, and data-reporting protocols for Hatteras/Onslow/JAX baseline monitoring projects (McAlarney et al. 2013, 2015). The current report describes monitoring activities that occurred between January 2016 and December 2016.

Supplemental information:
This data was created and submitted to the U.S. Department of the Navy on aerial surveys conducted along the continental shelf off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, from January to December 2016. To build upon the existing dataset in the proximity of the VA WEA, previously established transect lines were modified based upon recommendations from CREEM and discussions with UNCW and the Navy to manage overlap between the coastal (VAQF) and Norfolk Canyon Survey Area offshore (UNCW) survey areas. Eighteen survey days were allotted to VAQF to continue surveys of the continental shelf region off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay within the VACAPES OPAREA during 2016.

This dataset represents all sightings except opportunistic sightings collected during the surveys and recorded by the observer on the left side of the craft.

Static map of effort (tracklines) are visible on the OBIS-SEAMAP web site but not included in the download.

The sightings are split into the left and right sides. This dataset represents the left side sightings. The sightings from the right side are available in http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1495

Keywords: Occurrence,Marine Animal Survey,Marine Biology,Marine mammals,Sea turtles,Visual Sighting,Aircraft, Observation, Occurrence

General description

Purpose: Not available
Additional information: marine, harvested by iOBIS

Project details

Project title: Aerial Survey Baseline Monitoring in the Continental Shelf Region of the VACAPES OPAREA: January 2016 - December 2016 (left side)
Personnel: Sue Barco, Gwen Lockhart
Funding: NA

Data published through GBIF: http://ipt.env.duke.edu/resource?r=zd_1494

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Taxonomic ranks
Class: Chondrichthyes
Family: Balaenopteridae, Cheloniidae
Species: Balaenoptera physalus, Caretta caretta, Dermochelys coriacea, Delphinus delphis, Eubalaena glacialis, Mola mola, Megaptera novaeangliae, Rhinoptera bonasus, Rachycentron canadum, Stenella frontalis, Tursiops truncatus
Common names: rorquals, Fin Whale, Loggerhead Sea Turtle, cartilaginous fishes, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Short-beaked Common Dolphin, North Atlantic Right Whale, ocean sunfish, Humpback Whale, cownose ray, cobia, Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Sea Turtles

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: North Atlantic,Virginia
Coordinates: 36°32'60''N and 37°19'37.2''N Latitude; 76°1'22.8''W and 75°1'26.4''W Longitude 

Temporal coverage: January 30, 2016 - December 21, 2016

Natural collections description

Parent collection identifier: OBIS-SEAMAP
Collection name: zd_1494
Collection identifier: zd_1494

Methods

Method step description: NA
Study extent description: NA
Sampling description: NA

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Aerial Survey Baseline Monitoring in the Continental Shelf Region of the VACAPES OPAREA: January 2016 - December 2016 (left side)
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://ipt.env.duke.edu/archive.do?r=zd_1494
Publication date of data: 2021-04-24
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License

External datasets

Dataset description
Object name: OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Interactive map
Distribution: http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1494

Dataset description
Object name: FGDC Metadata
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: XML
Distribution: http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1494/xml

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2014-06-17
Hierarchy level: Dataset