Northern Fur Seal Counts in Weekly Surveys of Polovina Cliffs Rookery, St. Paul Island, Alaska (USA) during Autumn, 2016-2020

This dataset contains observations of northern fur seals and environmental conditions on Polovina Cliffs Rookery on St. Paul Island, Alaska, USA in 2016-2020. These observations were collected during surveys of the rookery by environmental professionals from the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government. These surveys were performed annually during the autumn period in which animals leave the rookery to begin their migration through the North Pacific Ocean.Once per week during the departure period, 1-2 observers counted adult female northern fur seals (laaqudan) and pups (laaqudadan) in five geographically separate sections of the rookery, and collected concurrent observations of weather, sea state, tide, and general conditions on the rookery. Observations were collected using a standardized protocol, data input into a mobile application in real time, and archived in an online database designed for the community’s local environmental monitoring program.Data include the observation start and end times in local time, the observers present, wind speed and direction, sea state, tidal elevation, air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, observer comments, and type of weather conditions observed (e.g., rain, partly sunny). For each weekly survey, there are unique rows for each section of the rookery surveyed and counts of each age/sex class (adult female, versus pups of either sex) within that section. Survey information includes the vantage point and view from which counts were made, the observer location, the presence or absence of animals, confidence in the identification, the count in numbers, the sex and age class corresponding to that count, the location type of the counts (e.g., shoreline, onshore), animal movement direction, the count trends, the observation direction, and visibility. Where available, there is also detailed information about the observation location and observed behaviors.These data are used in analyses of Pelland et al. 2024 (doi:10.1139/cjz-2023-0212).These data were collected by the Ecosystem Conservation Office, Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government under NOAA (US) National Marine Fisheries Service Scientific Research Permit numbers NA16NMF4390123, NA17NMF4390134, NA18NMF4390163, NA19NMF4390120, and NA20NMF4390060.