Digital Transectte Start and Endpoints

In the area of the Exclusive Economic Zone, the Federal Government is responsible for monitoring the conservation status of protected species and habitats. Here, marine nature conservation is represented by the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUV) and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). In order to record the stock sizes and the spatial-temporal distribution of whales and seabirds, regular aircraft-based censuses are carried out along predefined transects. The BfN regularly conducts digital survey flights in the North and Baltic Seas, which enable the simultaneous recording of marine mammals and seabirds. Flights are planned over the course of the year and carried out on suitable days in defined periods. Since the observation area and the observation periods used for marine mammals and seabirds only overlap in parts, the surveys focus on either marine mammals or seabirds, depending on the season and/or observation area. In zones C, D and F, additional intermediate transects (versions C_ext, D_ext, F_ext) are flown in order to be able to take into account abundance gradients caused by offshore wind farms. The record contains the beginning and endpoints of the transects.