DUML vessel-based photo-id and biopsy surveys in VACAPES OPAREA off Hatteras 2009, 2011-2015

Original provider: Duke University Marine Laboratory Dataset credits: Duke University Marine Laboratory Abstract: The site off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina is subsumed within the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) Monitoring Program. The survey area encompasses approximately 16,000 km² and includes continental shelf waters and deeper waters beyond the shelf break. The area also includes a large portion of the Cape Hatteras Special Research Area (CHSRA), designated by NOAA Fisheries to address interactions between short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) and the pelagic longline fisheries. A monitoring program (shipboard and aerial surveys) was implemented in 2011 to estimate density and document distribution and seasonal residency of marine mammals and sea turtles in the CHSRA.