PIFSC, Cetacean Survey, MACS 2018, Cruise 1803, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center

Original provider: NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Dataset credits: NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Abstract: The 2018 Mariana Archipelago Cetacean Survey (MACS) was a shipboard line transect survey aboard the Oscar Elton Sette that operated in the island waters from Guam to Pagan and west out to the West Mariana Ridge (9 July - 1 August). During 22 days of surveys there were 66 cetacean sightings including 12 identified species. Supplemental information: Data were collected under NMFS permit 20311. The data included here are the sightings and on-effort tracks recorded within WinCruz survey software and extracted from the QA/QC'd DAS file using the R package swfscDAS (https://smwoodman.github.io/swfscDAS). Attributes for fields within the trackline files: Cruise - see description in attribute table below segnum - segment number for continuous on-effort line Date - Local date m/dd/yyyy TimeStart - Local time at start of on-effort segment LatStart - Latitude in decimal degrees at starting point of on-effort segment LongStart - Longitude in decimal degrees at starting point of on-effort segment TimeEnd - Local time at end of on-effort segment LatEnd - Latitude in decimal degrees at end point of on-effort segment LongEnd - Longitude in decimal degrees at end point of on-effort segment Mode - see description in attribute table below EffType - see description in attribute table below avgSpdKt - average speed (knots) of the ship over the on-effort segment traveled avgBft - average Beaufort Sea State over the on-effort segment Other data not included here: Photos and biopsy samples were collected during some sightings. Acoustic detections were recorded from a towed hydrophone array. Sonobuoys were deployed opportunistically. High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARP) were recovered and redeployed off Saipan, Tinian, and Pagan. Drifting Acoustic Spar Buoy Recorders (DASBRs) were deployed and recovered opportunistically (McCullough et al. 2021). Oceanographic data were collected (CTD).