GIS tracks for killer whale encounters in Alaska: 1984 - 2013

Killer whales were monitored in Prince William Sound, Alaska with funding from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS) Trustee Council in 1989, 1990, and 1991 (damage assessment) and in 1993 (restoration monitoring). Monitoring was continued in 1995-2011 as part of the EVOS Trustee Council restoration program. The North Gulf Oceanic Society (NGOS) independently maintained a monitoring program in all other years since 1984. The goal of the photo monitoring has been to obtain identification photographs of all whales in all major resident pods and the AT1 transient group on an annual basis. Photo-identification techniques (after Bigg, et. al. 1990) were used to identify individual whales. The current photographic database includes tens of thousands of frames of film collected from 1984-2011 and is used to provide individual identifications for each encounter with whales. Vital rates for AB pod and all other frequently sighted resident pods have been calculated annually based on the photographic data.

1989、1990及1991年（用于损害评估）与1993年（用于恢复监测）期间，研究团队依托埃克森瓦尔迪兹漏油事件（Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, EVOS）托管委员会的资助，在阿拉斯加威廉王子湾对虎鲸（Killer whale）开展了监测工作。1995至2011年的监测作为EVOS托管委员会恢复项目的一部分持续推进。自1984年起的其余所有年份，北湾海洋学会（North Gulf Oceanic Society, NGOS）均独立维持了一套虎鲸监测方案。本次影像监测的核心目标为，每年获取所有主要居留鲸群以及AT1过客鲸群的全部虎鲸个体的识别照片。研究采用照片识别技术（Photo-identification），参照Bigg等人1990年的研究方法完成单只虎鲸的个体识别。当前的影像数据库包含1984至2011年间采集的数万帧胶片影像，用于为每一次虎鲸目击记录提供个体识别依据。基于该数据集，研究人员已逐年计算得到AB鲸群及其他所有高频目击居留鲸群的生命率。