75796 Data Set Published / External 75715 Story Map: NOAA Fisheries West Coast Offshore Scientific Surveys Project In Work 2025-05-01 This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey. The Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey is part of the larger West Coast Marine Mammal Surveys started in 2021 and led by NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center. These surveys have a specific focus on small vessel surveys (Class II small vessel, 34-ft LOA) for marine mammals from the western Strait of Juan de Fuca south along the outer coast to Eureka, California. Although focal species vary from year-to-year, surveys have historically prioritized gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), and Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) given the program’s long-term survey efforts for these species. Since 2021, surveys from June through September now represent a substantial increase in both spatial coverage and frequency relative to historical surveys, documenting all opportunistic sightings of marine mammals independent of program priorities. Data are used to derive estimates of species-specific occurrence, density, abundance, and resource utilization. As the length of the time series improves, data will be leveraged to better understand environmental drivers of occurrence, abundance and density, phenology of migration, and the health/condition of individuals and populations.The Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey periodically samples marine mammals along coastal, shelf, and shelf edge ecosystems - out to approximately 20 nautical miles offshore - from northern Washington (including the western Strait of Juan de Fuca) to northern California. Periodic sampling efforts include collection of spatially explicit presence/absence data for all marine mammals, mark-resight observations of individually identifiable large whales (including gray whales, humpback whales, killer whales, blue whales, and fin whales) and Steller sea lions (from branded and tagged animals), boat-based tissue sampling of large whales, boat-based UAS surveys for enumerating pinnipeds at haulouts/rookeries along the PNW coast, and UAS-based photogrammetry for measuring body condition in large whales and pinnipeds. This data product is intended to help communicate the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ scientific surveys on the continental margin of the U.S. West Coast. NOAA Fisheries conducts numerous scientific surveys to inform the status of fish stocks and protected resources. For the West Coast Region and Pacific Fisheries Management Council, more than a dozen surveys are conducted routinely across the continental margin, focusing either on pelagic or demersal species or the ecosystem as a whole. They collect a variety of biological and environmental data to provide a synoptic view of the habitats and ecosystems for which the target species inhabit. The surveys utilize varying designs including fixed stations where a number of operations are centered, transect lines where fishery acoustic data are continually collected, and stratified random sampling, to name a few. Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category biota Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category environment Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category geoscientificInformation Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category oceans Theme UAS Theme boat-based tissue sampling Theme marine mammals Theme small vessel survey Spatial California Spatial Oregon Spatial United States Spatial Washington Northwest Fisheries Science Center Seattle WA USA Montlake facility Data Set As Needed Map (digital) U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, aka "NOAA Fisheries" 75798 Published / External Data Table Yes survey extent in polygon format; Source: NOAA Fisheries 1 Shape n/a No No Active Feature geometry.; Source: ESRI Coordinates defining the features. 2 OBJECTID n/a No No Active Internal feature number.; Source: ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. 3 SurveyName n/a No No Active Name of survey as identified in either literature or NOAA Fisheries reports; Source: Author Name of survey in string format 4 Shape_Length n/a No No Active Length of feature in internal units.; Source: Esri Positive real numbers that are automatically generated. 5 SurveyNum n/a No No Active Survey index number as referenced in Table 1 of NOAA Fisheries comment letters; Source: Author 1 to 13 6 SurveyAbbr n/a No No Active Recognized abbreviation of survey name; Source: Author Recognized abbreviation of survey name, as designated by NOAA Fisheries 7 NmfsSciCtr n/a No No Active NOAA Fisheries designated Science Center; Source: Author AFSC: Alaska Fisheries Science Center; NWFSC: Northwest Fisheries Science Center; SWFSC: Southwest Fisheries Science Center; 8 YearStart n/a No No Active First year of survey; Source: Author 1949 to 2015 9 Frequency n/a No No Active Period for which survey is conducted (e.g., annual, biennial, triennial, monthly, quarterly, seasonal, etc.); Source: Author annual: once per year; biennial: once every two years; monthly: once per month; quarterly: once every 3 months; seasonal: generally once per season, as defined by NOAA Fisheries and particular survey needs; triennial: once every three years; 10 SurveyDesc n/a No No Active Description of survey including general sampling design and method; Source: Author Description of survey in string format 11 MajorApps n/a No No Active Major applications of survey as they relate to NOAA Fisheries' mandates; Source: Author Textual descriptions of major applications of survey as they relate to NOAA Fisheries' mandates 12 InformESA n/a No No Active Boolean for whether or not survey informs Endangered Species Act (ESA); Source: Author no: Boolean False; yes: Boolean True; 13 InformMMPA n/a No No Active Boolean for whether or not survey informs Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA); Source: Author no: Boolean False; yes: Boolean True; 14 InformMSA n/a No No Active Boolean for whether or not survey informs Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (MSA); Source: Author no: Boolean False; yes: Boolean True; 15 URL n/a No No Active Universal resource locator (URL) for documentation on survey design, description, history, etc.; Source: Author Universal resource locator (URL) for documentation on survey design, description, history, etc. 16 Shape_Area n/a No No Active Area of feature in internal units squared.; Source: Esri Positive real numbers that are automatically generated. Data Steward 2022-10-17 Person Whitmire, Curt curt.whitmire@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-1486 2725 Montlake Boulevard East Seattle WA 98112 USA Distributor 2022-10-17 Organization NOAA GeoPlatform gis.community@noaa.gov https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html homepage main access page for the NOAA Geoplatform Online Resource Metadata Contact 2022-10-17 Person Whitmire, Curt curt.whitmire@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-1486 2725 Montlake Boulevard East Seattle WA 98112 USA Point of Contact 2022-10-17 Person Whitmire, Curt curt.whitmire@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-1486 2725 Montlake Boulevard East Seattle WA 98112 USA Publication Date -129.464302 -114.791625 48.5111 30.263765 Range 2021-06-01T00:00:00+00:00 2024-09-30T00:00:00+00:00 Projected EPSG:3857 WGS 84 / Pseudo-Mercator World Geodetic System 1984 WGS 84 6378137 298.257223563 WGS 84 Popular Visualisation Pseudo-Mercator Popular Visualisation Pseudo Mercator Latitude of natural origin 0° 0' 0" N Longitude of natural origin 0° 0' 0" E False easting 0 metre False northing 0 metre 1 Easting X metre east 2 Northing Y metre north Unclassified *** No Warranty*** The user assumes the entire risk related to its 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. https://services2.arcgis.com/C8EMgrsFcRFL6LrL/arcgis/rest/services/US_West_Coast_CONUS_NMFS_At_Sea_Scientific_Surveys/FeatureServer/130 2022-10-17 Organization NOAA GeoPlatform Data access URL ESRI REST Service Version 6.2 (Build 9200) ; Esri ArcGIS 10.7.1.11595 No missing features. Features were confirmed and checked via team review. 1 Data were loaded from source data into ArcGIS Pro and a definition query was used in order to isolate the survey of interest, then published to ArcGIS Online. NMFS_Survey_Extents Feature class within the NMFS_Share_Albers folder within the OWEC geodatabase. 1 The data was filtered using a definition query of `SurveyNum = 14` to isolate the extents for the Pacific Northwest Marine Mammal Survey. Person Whitmire, Curt curt.whitmire@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-1486 2725 Montlake Boulevard East Seattle WA 98112 USA 2 The dataset was then uploaded to the NOAA GeoPlatform as a feature service for display on NOAA Fisheries West Coast At-Sea Scientific Surveys StoryMap. Person Whitmire, Curt curt.whitmire@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-1486 2725 Montlake Boulevard East Seattle WA 98112 USA 75798 Entity gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:75796 Melissa Widas 2025-05-08T21:36:37 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-03T17:20:35 2025-07-02 Northwest Fisheries Science Center NWFSC 2725 Montlake Boulevard East Seattle WA 98112 USA 206-860-3200 https://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov 1001 Public No No 2025-07-02 1 Year 2026-07-02