Dataset

Sea Watch Foundation Marine Megafauna Sightings:1930 to 1970

OBIS UK MeasurementOrFact Open in mapper Explore occurrences

The Sea Watch Foundation has been collecting both effort-based and non-effort-based sightings data of marine mammals and other megafauna since the late 1960s. The main area of coverage is the waters around Britain and Ireland but with some surveys elsewhere. Data come from platforms ranging from small to large vessels either on dedicated survey or platforms of opportunity, and from coastal land sites. Data collected include environmental conditions, marine traffic, and seabird associations. Sighting records come from all types of marine user from marine mammal biologists to citizen scientists and members of the public. All sightings are checked, and species ID validated from still or video images and/or descriptions, except in those cases where persons are known, experienced, observers.

Citation: Sea Watch Foundation non effort-related sightings database. Accessed on –INSERT DATE-

Published: May 13, 2025 at 07:56

URL: https://www.dassh.ac.uk/ipt/resource?r=seawatchfoundation_marine_megafauna_sightings_1930_to_1970

Peter Evans
Sea Watch Foundation

James Waggitt
Bangor University

Simone Evans
Sea Watch Foundation

The archive for marine species and habitats data (DASSH)
The archive for marine species and habitats data (DASSH)

Sea Watch Foundation
Sea Watch Foundation

743
occurrence records
5,745
measurements and facts
15
taxa
13
species

Taxa

Missing and invalid fields

Field Missing Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters 743
100.0%

Quality flags

The OBIS data quality flags are documented at https://github.com/iobis/obis-qc.

Flag Dropped Records
ON_LAND 34
4.6%

Measurement types

DNA derived data