Data Management Plan
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:28093 | Published / External
Data Management Plan
DMP Template v2.0.1 (2015-01-01)
Please provide the following information, and submit to the NOAA DM Plan Repository.Reference to Master DM Plan (if applicable)
As stated in Section IV, Requirement 1.3, DM Plans may be hierarchical. If this DM Plan inherits provisions from a higher-level DM Plan already submitted to the Repository, then this more-specific Plan only needs to provide information that differs from what was provided in the Master DM Plan.
1. General Description of Data to be Managed
The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) initiated and maintains census programs for California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) at San Miguel and San Nicolas Islands, California. The program documents annual pup births, pup mortality, and temporal patterns in adult and juvenile presence at San Miguel Island. For both species, the database contains field data on the annual number of live pups and dead pups by location. At San Miguel Island, daily counts of adults, pups, and juveniles in a sample area are also available. The data are used to describe population trends and changes in land resource use among the species.
Notes: Only a maximum of 4000 characters will be included.
Notes: Data collection is considered ongoing if a time frame of type "Continuous" exists.
Notes: All time frames from all extent groups are included.
San Miguel and San Nicolas Islands, of the California Channel Islands
Notes: All geographic areas from all extent groups are included.
(e.g., digital numeric data, imagery, photographs, video, audio, database, tabular data, etc.)
(e.g., satellite, airplane, unmanned aerial system, radar, weather station, moored buoy, research vessel, autonomous underwater vehicle, animal tagging, manual surveys, enforcement activities, numerical model, etc.)
2. Point of Contact for this Data Management Plan (author or maintainer)
Notes: The name of the Person of the most recent Support Role of type "Metadata Contact" is used. The support role must be in effect.
Notes: The name of the Organization of the most recent Support Role of type "Metadata Contact" is used. This field is required if applicable.
3. Responsible Party for Data Management
Program Managers, or their designee, shall be responsible for assuring the proper management of the data produced by their Program. Please indicate the responsible party below.
Notes: The name of the Person of the most recent Support Role of type "Data Steward" is used. The support role must be in effect.
4. Resources
Programs must identify resources within their own budget for managing the data they produce.
5. Data Lineage and Quality
NOAA has issued Information Quality Guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information which it disseminates.
(describe or provide URL of description):
Lineage Statement:
Pup Birth Census:
1. All pups are counted by two or more observers that walk through the colony, along bluffs or from a blind counting all live pups observed. Counters use hand tallies and record their counts individually in their data books. Observers do not discuss individual counts while in the field.
2. For California sea lions, the entire colony at San Miguel is counted over 4-5 days; at San Nicolas Island a sample area is counted over 2 days. For northern fur seals, all pups are counted on a single survey. When counts span several days, distinct break points in the topography (usually headlands or large breaks in the distribution of animals such that is unlikely that adjacent areas mix) are used to provide markers to avoid counting the same pups on different days.
3. Counts are entered into the Microsoft Access database each night and error checked by the observers. When the census is complete, the average number of pups is computed for the colony or sample area.
Pup Mortality Survey:
1. Pup mortality surveys for California sea lions are conducted in sample areas on San Miguel and San Nicolas Islands. At San Miguel Island, the area is the Point Bennett rookery located on the west end of the island and represents about 45% of the total population. At San Nicolas Island, the area includes the southwest end of the island and represents about 33% of the population. Pup mortality surveys for northern fur seals are conducted in Adams Cove on the mainland of San Miguel throughout the reproductive season and only once on Castle Rock.
2. At San Miguel Island, pup mortality surveys are conducted at 10-15 day intervals beginning the first week of July and ending the middle of August. Surveys conducted after the end of the reproductive season may be at 15 day intervals or up to 1-2 months. At Castle Rock, a single mortality survey is conducted at the same time as the live pup survey for each species. At San Nicolas Island, one to three surveys are conducted over the reproductive season.
3. When surveys are conducted over the season, observers search the sample areas and collect and count each dead pup they encounter. The data includes: island, date, area on the island, species, beach location, substrate type, and carcass condition. The carcasses are then stacked into piles throughout the rookery to avoid counting individual carcasses more than once. In a few years, carcasses were tagged with individual numbers for a mark-recapture study to estimate disappearance rates of carcasses. Each carcass was tagged with two uniquely numbered tags and left on the beach. On the subsequent surveys, the tags and carcass condition were recorded when tagged carcasses were encountered creating a capture history for each carcass over the season.
4. Counts are entered into the Microsoft Access database and edited by the observer that collected the data. The total number of dead pups over the season for each species at each colony provides an index of the annual pup mortality.
(describe or provide URL of description):
Data are edited in the field and entered into the database by the person who collected the data. The data managers make sure all the data are entered in the same format and check and correct for inconsistencies in the data.
6. Data Documentation
The EDMC Data Documentation Procedural Directive requires that NOAA data be well documented, specifies the use of ISO 19115 and related standards for documentation of new data, and provides links to resources and tools for metadata creation and validation.
Missing/invalid information:
- 1.7. Data collection method(s)
(describe or provide URL of description):
7. Data Access
NAO 212-15 states that access to environmental data may only be restricted when distribution is explicitly limited by law, regulation, policy (such as those applicable to personally identifiable information or protected critical infrastructure information or proprietary trade information) or by security requirements. The EDMC Data Access Procedural Directive contains specific guidance, recommends the use of open-standard, interoperable, non-proprietary web services, provides information about resources and tools to enable data access, and includes a Waiver to be submitted to justify any approach other than full, unrestricted public access.
There are no legal restrictions on access to the data. They reside in public domain and can be freely distributed.
Notes: The name of the Organization of the most recent Support Role of type "Distributor" is used. The support role must be in effect. This information is not required if an approved access waiver exists for this data.
Notes: This field is required if a Distributor has not been specified.
Notes: All URLs listed in the Distribution Info section will be included. This field is required if applicable.
The dataset is available for download via the NCEI Ocean Archive System at http://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0145165.
Data not automatically processed
Notes: This field is required if applicable.
8. Data Preservation and Protection
The NOAA Procedure for Scientific Records Appraisal and Archive Approval describes how to identify, appraise and decide what scientific records are to be preserved in a NOAA archive.
(Specify NCEI-MD, NCEI-CO, NCEI-NC, NCEI-MS, World Data Center (WDC) facility, Other, To Be Determined, Unable to Archive, or No Archiving Intended)
Notes: This field is required if archive location is World Data Center or Other.
Notes: This field is required if archive location is To Be Determined, Unable to Archive, or No Archiving Intended.
Notes: Physical Location Organization, City and State are required, or a Location Description is required.
Discuss data back-up, disaster recovery/contingency planning, and off-site data storage relevant to the data collection
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.
9. Additional Line Office or Staff Office Questions
Line and Staff Offices may extend this template by inserting additional questions in this section.