Marine mammal sightings on Canada's Pacific coast, 2004-2008

Original provider:
Raincoast Conservation Foundation, University of Victoria, Dalhousie University

Dataset credits:
Raincoast Conservation Foundation, University of Victoria, and Dalhousie University. At minimum, please cite Harvey et al. 2017, Best et al. 2015, and Williams & Thomas 2007 if using these data.

Abstract:
Global biodiversity is undergoing rapid decline due to direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts to species and ecosystems. Marine species are experiencing accelerated population declines leading to many species being considered at-risk by regional, national, and international standards. As one conservation approach, decisions made using spatially explicit information on marine wildlife populations have the potential to facilitate recovery and contribute to national and international commitments towards conservation targets. Mapping both the distributions and densities of species at-risk can inform future Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and conservation efforts, including the identification of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The goal of this research was to map spatially continuous distributions and densities of nine marine mammal species to support coastal conservation and marine planning in British Columbia, Canada. In this study, marine mammal sightings from systematic line transect surveys were integrated with remote sensing variables using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) to predict distribution and density for the north coast of British Columbia. Density estimates for each segment of the survey transects were calculated using Multiple Covariates Distance Sampling (MCDS; Best et al., 2015) which were then included in the GAM predictions. The final product of this work adds and expands upon existing marine mammal data by providing predicted species distributions and densities for unsampled areas of the north coast. Contributions from this study provide GIS data products for informing coastal management decisions and open access data to further marine mammal conservation and research.