DUML vessel-based photo-id and biopsy surveys for proposed JAX USWTR site 2016-2025

Original provider: Duke University Marine Laboratory Dataset credits: Duke University Marine Laboratory Abstract: Abstract These data describe results from vessel surveys and visual species-verification trials conducted at the Jacksonville Shallow Water Training Range (JSWTR) in the Jacksonville Operating Area (OPAREA). This work continues from the original multi-institutional monitoring program intended to provide information on the species composition, population identity, density, and baseline behavior of marine mammals and sea turtles present in United States (U.S.) Navy range complexes along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. This baseline monitoring program began in 2007, with aerial and vessel surveys as well as passive acoustic monitoring within Onslow Bay, North Carolina; it subsequently expanded to include study areas off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. In Onslow Bay, 6 years of monitoring yielded a comprehensive picture of the density, distribution, and abundance of marine mammals and sea turtles as well as provided new insights into residency patterns among pelagic delphinids within this region (Read et al. 2014). Dedicated survey effort within the Onslow Bay site concluded in 2013. Off the coasts of Cape Hatteras and Virginia Beach, more than a decade of surveys and passive acoustic monitoring have also provided information on the complex distribution patterns of the marine mammals and sea turtles within this highly productive area, as well as their species diversity, and has formed the basis for several more recent focused monitoring projects. In addition, more than 9 years of baseline monitoring within the Jacksonville OPAREA have provided similar information on the density and distribution of marine mammals and sea turtles (Foley et al. 2019).