2016-2024 Humpback Whale Unusual Mortality Event along the Atlantic Coast Dead Animal Locations

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, an unusual mortality event (UME) is defined as "a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response." To understand the health of marine mammal populations, scientists study unusual mortality events. Understanding and investigating these events is important because they can serve as indicators of ocean health. To fill this role, NOAA Fisheries established the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events in 1991. The working group was formalized in 1992 with amendments to the MMPA amendments. An UME is determined to be "unusual" by the working group if it meets one or more of the seven criteria. The Unusual Mortality Event involving humpback whales along the Atlantic coast started January 15, 2016 and is currently active. The event is being investigated by NOAA Fisheries and partners and was defined as occurring along the Atlantic coast of the United States from Maine to Florida. Metadata for this dataset can be found at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/69167.

This dataset was created to visualize dead animal locations associated with the 2016-2023 Humpback Whale Unusual Mortality Event along the Atlantic Coast. For information on the proper use of the dataset refer to the Use Constraints metadata section.

The user assumes the entire risk related to use of these data. NMFS is providing these data "as is," and NMFS disclaims any and all warranties, whether express or implied, including (without limitation) any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. It is strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data to evaluate dataset limitations, restrictions or intended use. In no event will NMFS be liable to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages, or lost profit resulting from any use or misuse of this data.

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