|
Survey effort
a total of 66.3 hr
of survey coverage (3,980 min) was collected during the survey, covering a
total linear distance of 792.95 km. The majority of effort (3,286 min;
668.61 km) was spent actively searching for cetaceans, while 694 min
(124.34 km) of effort was spent ‘off effort’ during cetacean encounters.
Forty-three percent of the
data were collected in Beaufort sea states ≤2. A total of 93% of survey
effort were collected in Beaufort sea states ≤4, while 7% of the data
were from sea states 5 and 6 which are unsuitable for analysis of small
odontocete data.
The water temperature during the survey varied from 11.5
to 14.9°C. The amount of survey coverage in each ¼ ICES rectangle varied
from 34–132 km.
Cetacean
species
There were a total of 161 cetacean sightings during the
survey, comprising a minimum estimate of 1,833 individuals (Table 1).
This included four odontocete species and a single baleen whale species.
Table 1. Summary of visual
cetacean sightings during the survey
|
Cetacean species |
Sightings |
Individuals |
Mean group size |
|
Harbour porpoise |
121 |
246 |
2.03 |
|
Common dolphin |
11 |
1,486 |
135.09 |
|
White-beaked dolphin |
10 |
70 |
7.00 |
|
Risso’s dolphin |
3 |
6 |
2.00 |
|
Minke whale |
10 |
11 |
1.10 |
|
UNID cetacean |
1 |
1 |
1.00 |
|
UNID dolphin |
5 |
13 |
2.60 |
|
|
Location of survey effort during the survey |
