Cascadia Research Blue Whale Photo IDs for US West Coast, 1972-2002

This dataset consists of over 6,560 sighting records of over 1,803 uniquely identified blue whales. These were collected by Cascadia Research and collaborators from the eastern North Pacific from 1975 through 2004 (data collection is continuing). The primary scope of this dataset includes waters off California, Oregon, and Washington from 1986 to 2004 which accounts for over 6,000 of the records. Additional sighting records are from other regions of the North Pacific including the Eastern Tropical Pacific, British Columbia, and Alaska. These data represent the most extensive database of blue whale sightings available from the waters off the western United States and have provided the primary information available on movements and abundance of eastern North Pacific blue whales. Effort was not evenly distributed throughout region so sighting locations are biased towards areas of highest effort. ID field links resightings of the same individual.