Cetacean visual observations and environmental parameters collected by CTD and other instruments onboard the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter (GU) in the Gulf of Mexico, for the Trophic Interactions and Habitat Requirements of Gulf of Mexico Rices Whales project (RESTORE survey GU-18-06) from 2018-11-11 to 2018-12-03 (NCEI Accession 0301293)

As part of a Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies (RESTORE) Science Program project, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and Florida International University (FIU), conducted a shipboard survey in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (GoMx) from 2018-11-11 to 2018-12-03. Operations occurred in waters where Rices whales (Balaenoptera ricei) were previously sighted, between the 180 m and 400 m isobaths from the Florida panhandle to Tampa. The survey was designed with a focus on baleen whales, although sightings of other species were opportunistically recorded. A sighting constituted a single or group of marine mammals (whales and dolphins) seen at the same location and time. This dataset includes marine mammal visual observation data and effort points with surveying conditions, opportunistic marine mammal photographs, and non-marine mammal sightings (a.k.a. occurrences) such as sea turtles. Raw files from conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) casts performed on a daily basis during the survey are also available.

This was the second in a series of research cruises dedicated to collect information on Rices whales (Balaenoptera ricei) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Goals included deploying telemetry tags and conducting visual surveys to understand Rices whale spatial distribution

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Some data may be confidential and require confidentiality agreement. Other data may not be available until a specified date.

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