Abundance and distribution of eastern Bering Sea belugas from 2024 aerial line-transect surveys

Details

• Personal Author:
  Conn, P. B. ; Shelden, K. E. W. ; Brower, A. A. ; Christman, C. L. ; Goetz, K. T.
• Corporate Authors:
  Alaska Fisheries Science Center (U.S.) ; Marine Mammal Laboratory (U.S.) ; Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; AFSC (Alaska Fisheries Science Center) ; CICOES (Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies)
• Description:
  In 2024, we conducted an aerial line-transect survey of the Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) stock of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in Alaska, USA. In this survey, a team of observers scanned for marine mammals from bubble windows installed on an Aero Commander aircraft, which flew pre-planned transects. Observers recorded sightings of beluga groups, location of beluga sightings (including perpendicular distance from the aircraft), and environmental conditions thought to influence detection (e.g., turbidity, Beaufort Scale sea state).
• Keywords:
  • Beluga
  • Survey
  • Eastern Bering Sea
  • Transect
  • Yukon
  • Sighting
• Series:
  NOAA technical memorandum NMFS-AFSC ; 510
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.25923/8pap-cg85
• Format:
  pdf
• Document Type:
  Technical Memorandum
• License:
  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
• Rights Information:
  CC0 Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/72418/noaa_72418_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.10 MB]
• Collection(s):
  NOAA Cooperative Institutes ; National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b8b68bc90d4ff2069574b5b24d5488f46677789d9d87c144493e3a6497fca5391d61c6b1363183429672ec8d19b4b5d2ab07926be9eae8373be3059f7d0f04db