DFO Maritimes Region Cetacean Sightings

This is an OBIS formatted version of the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Maritimes Region Whale Sightings Database for visual sightings of cetaceans (e.g. whales, dolphins and porpoises) mostly from the Scotian Shelf/Bay of Fundy portions of Canada's east coast, as well as the Gulf of St. Lawrence in recent years. The collectors of these sightings are diverse (e.g. NGO researchers, fisheries observers, private consultants, etc.), mostly on-board ships and mostly collected since the late 1990s. The horizontal resolution of the data (e.g. distance between sightings) varies by a vast amount - just metres in some areas like the Bay of Fundy, and tens to thousands of kilometers elsewhere, like off northern Labrador. A small portion of the database are standardized marine mammal survey data, where a line transect sightings survey is conducted and sightings effort is logged. Only these survey data allow for the calculation of Sightings Per Unit Effort and the use of Distance Sampling methods, leading to a statistically-based, unbiased abundance estimate. This information is not provided in this resource. This resource contains presence information only. No absences are recorded. The design and structure of the main project database is consistent with other DFO databases and with the University of Rhode Island (URI) whale sightings database. Departures from the URI standard (mainly species) are easily translated by users of either database. This database is a compilation of a number of datasets, most of the data being gathered opportunistically. More detailed information on the individual sightings, human interactions, and animal behaviour is available from the source database and the resource creator should be contacted.

Citation: DFO. (2026). DFO Maritimes Region Cetacean Sightings. Version 9.3 In OBIS Canada Digital Collections. Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada. Published by OBIS, Digital http://www.iobis.org/. Accessed on –INSERT DATE

Published: June 29, 2026 at 16:20

License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

URL: http://ipt.iobis.org/obiscanada/resource?r=obis_marwhale