Steller sea lion haulout and rookery locations in the United States

Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) use terrestrial sites for reproduction, resting, molting, and other activities. Sites used during the breeding season (May-August) where pupping occurs are rookeries; haulouts are sites used outside of the breeding season, and by primarily non-breeding adults and other ages throughout the year. The NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) Alaska Ecosystem Program (AEP) maintains a list of known Steller sea lion terrestrial sites in the United States portion of the sea lion range. This dataset contains site names with corresponding geographic coordinates of 472 consistently-used and known Steller sea lion haul sites. The site names are consistent throughout NMML data products and can be used to provide geospatial referencing for other NMML dataset products and publications. For legal descriptions of sites listed as Critical Habitat under the Endangered Species Act, refer to 50 CFR 226.202.

The main purpose of this dataset is to provide a consistent list of known Steller sea lion terrestrial sites for population surveys, other research, and management actions.

Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 4981, 04-25-2014 14:17

The following FGDC sections are not currently supported in InPort, but were preserved and will be included in the FGDC export:

- Taxonomy (FGDC:taxonomy)

Cite as: AFSC / NMML / Alaska Ecosystem Program (2016). Steller sea lion haulout and rookery locations in the United States for 2016-05-14 (NCEI Accession 0129877). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.7289/V58C9T7V [access date]

The US_SSL_Sites.csv dataset consists of 8 fields describing the site.

SITENAME (text): A descriptive name specific to site-location. The "sitename" is consistent among NMML data products and publications, and can be used to geolocate those data. These sites may be further grouped into a complex.

COMPLEX (text): A "parent" site that describes a group of multiple closely-located haulouts and/or rookeries that each have a unique "sitename". For example, the Ugamak Complex is comprised of four separate sites.

REGION (text): Area describing larger metapopulation groupings of complexes and sites. Regions are commonly referred to in NMML dataproducts and manuscripts, and in NMFS policy and management documents. Metapopulation structure in Alaska is described by: York AE, Merrick RL, and Loughlin TR (1996). An analysis of the Steller sea lion metapopulation in Alaska. In: Metapopulations and Wildlife Conservation, Island Press, Washington DC 259-292.

Region describes locations as:

CALIF: State of California

OREGON: State of Oregon

WASH: State of Washington

SE AK: Southeast Alaska

E GULF: Eastern Gulf of Alaska

C GULF: Central Gulf of Alaska

W GULF: Western Gulf of Alaska

E ALEU: Eastern Aleutian Islands

C ALEU: Central Aleutian Islands

W ALEU: Western Aleutian Islands

BERING: Bering Sea

REGNO (numeric): Numerical code assigned to a REGION. Sites in Regions 1-5 are in the range of the eastern stock of Steller sea lions, sites in Regions 6-12 are in range of western stock:

1 = CALIF

2 = OREGON

3 = WASH

5 = SE AK

6 = E GULF

7 = C GULF

8 = W GULF

9 = E ALEU

10 = C ALEU

11 = W ALEU

12 = BERING

RCA (numeric): Rookery Cluster Area for Alaska sites only. RCAs have been used in some data analyses for management actions, range from 1-11, and are related to REGION by:

1 = W ALEU

2-5 = C ALEU

6 = E ALEU

7 = W GULF

8-9 = C GULF

10 = E GULF

ROOKERY (numeric): Numerical code for site type; 1 = Rookery, 0 = Haulout.

LATITUDE (numeric): Latitude (N) in decimal degrees. WGS84 datum.

LONGITUDE (numeric): Longitude in decimal degrees, negative value for western hemisphere locations, positive for eastern hemisphere locations. WGS84 datum.

Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

None

None

The data set is in the process of being archived with the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Once the archival process is complete and verified, the data set will be publicly available. Communication and collaboration with data set authors is strongly encouraged prior to use.

Data can be accessed at NCEI through listed URL.

User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy.

User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. Communication and collaboration with data set authors is strongly encouraged.

Cite as "AFSC / NMML / Alaska Ecosystem Program (2016). Steller sea lion haulout and rookery locations in the United States for 2016-05-14 (NCEI Accession 0129877). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.7289/V58C9T7V [access date]" as the source from which these data were obtained in any publication and/or other representations of these data.

None.

Metadata are subject to revision at any time and information within the metadata record should not be cited without author consent. While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

MS Access

Not applicable.

Not available.

Data not automatically processed.

IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Western Regional Support Center in Seattle, Washington, following a disruption.

Not available