SWFSC Marine Mammal Survey, STAR 2003, Cruise 1623

Original provider: NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) Dataset credits: Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, NOAA Abstract: This 2003 eastern tropical Pacific cetacean line-transect survey was part of the Stenella Abundance Research Project (STAR), a multi-year cetacean and ecosystem assessment study designed to assess the status of dolphin stocks which have been taken as incidental catch by the yellowfin tuna purse-seine fishery in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. This survey was conducted by the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center aboard NOAA ships <i>David Starr Jordan</i> and <i>McArthur II</i> for a combined total of approximately 26,000 kilometers surveyed from late July to early December 2003. This dataset provides the time-date and geographical coordinates, by species/stock, of all cetaceans detected during the survey, as well as the daily and intra-daily start and end points of the line-transect survey by the NOAA Ship <i>McArthur II<i>.