Allied Whale North Atlantic Finback Whale Catalogue

The North Atlantic Finback Whale Catalogue is a sightings based, life history dataset of individual finback whales, inhabiting the Western North Atlantic Ocean. Established in 1986 as a collaborative repository for several independent collections of photographically-identified finback whales, the NAFWC is comprised of photographic sightings, referenced by a whale identifying number, and date and location of the sighting. Individual identifications are based on morphological variations in dorsal fin shape, body pigment and patterns of scarring which provide a matrix of characters on which to qualify the identification as outlined in Agler, et al. (1992). The majority of Catalogue sightings are obtained from coastal waters of the Gulf of Maine, during summer months from 1978 to the present, aboard both opportunistic and directed survey vessels. CURRENTNESS REFERENCE: ground condition SPATIAL REFERENCE INFORMATION - GEODETIC MODEL Horizontal Datum Name: D_WGS_1984 Ellipsoid Name: WGS_1984 Semi-major Axis: 6378137.000000 Denominator of Flattening Ratio: 298.257224