Prince William Sound Marine Bird Surveys, July 2012 to 2016, Gulf Watch Alaska Pelagic Component

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA), Pelagic Component of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, project number 12120114-K, 14120114-K, and 16120114-K. Gulf Watch Alaska is the long-term ecosystem monitoring program of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council for the marine ecosystem affected by the 1989 oil spill.

In this study, small boat surveys were conducted to estimate marine bird and sea otter populations in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska during July (“summer”) 2012-2016, using methods developed in 1989-91 (Klosiewski and Laing 1994). These surveys were a continuation of surveys conducted to examine trends of marine birds in the oiled and unoiled areas of PWS during March ("winter") and July ("summer"), 1989 to 2010. Surveys were conducted in three strata every other year during the month of July. Three fiberglass boats traveling at low speeds (6-12 mph) were used to survey the area over a three-week period. Two observers and a boat operator recorded all marine birds and marine mammals within the transect “window”(100 m either side of the boat). The dataset is several comma separated files exported from the marine bird and mammal observation software dLOG (Ford 1999). The data contained in the files named Survey_Sighting are the observations of species, numbers, and behavior recorded by observers during surveys. The data contained in the files named Survey_Header are the weather and environmental observations that were made during surveys.