AFSC/NMML: Cook Inlet Beluga Opportunistic Sightings, 1975 to 2015

As a part of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) management of the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population, a database of opportunistic beluga whale sightings was compiled from reports made by the general public, aircraft patrols, wildlife surveys, and military and industry monitoring studies. Sightings are reported to NMFS Alaska Regional (AKR) office personnel either by voice- or e-mail. Sighting data are then transcribed and sent to the NMFS National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) for entry into the database. Data are first assessed for quality during transcription by NMFS AKR personnel. Secondary review and confirmation is undertaken by NMFS NMML personnel prior to entry of data into the Access Database.

Sightings of beluga are used by the AKR in ESA section 7 consultations.

Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 8110, 02-04-2016 18:25

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

- Taxonomy (FGDC:taxonomy)

The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.

NOAA denies liability if the data are misused.

Data are available at http://data.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:0142326

There are no legal restrictions on access to the data. They reside in public domain and can be freely distributed.

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

of NOAA/NMFS/AFSC as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these data is suggested.

Sighting data comes from ouside sources, resulting in a wide varied of information provided. Beluga sightings in unusual places or of unusual numbers that could not be confirmed were not entered without due consideration of reliability of the source.

Data are first assessed for quality during transcription by NMFS AKR personnel. Secondary review and confirmation is undertaken by NMFS NMML personnel prior to entry of data into the Access Database.

Data are first assessed for quality during transcription by NMFS AKR personnel. Secondary review and confirmation is undertaken by NMFS NMML personnel prior to entry of data into the Access Database.

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.