Shore-based counts of the Eastern North Pacific gray whale stock from central California conducted from 1967-12-18 to 2007-02-22 (NCEI Accession 0138007)
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has conducted shore-based counts of the Eastern North Pacific stock of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) 26 years from 1967 to 2008 at Granite Canyon (or nearby at Yankee Point), 13 km south of Carmel, in central California. Convenient access to the Granite Canyon research station (owned by NOAA but operated by the State of California Department of Fish and Game) and the narrowness of the whales' migratory corridor in this area permitted an efficient counting process at this site. All counts were conducted during the 2-month southbound migration (mid-December to late February) rather than the protracted 3-month northbound migration. The routine nature of these counts and the consistency in research protocol lend themselves to inter-annual trend analyses. Research protocol has been based on single observers independently searching for whales and recording data on environmental conditions and the time, location, count, and direction of travel for each sighting. The counting system and observer performance has been tested through paired, independent observational effort; aerial surveys; thermal imagery; radio-tagging of whales; systematic observations through high-powered (25x) binoculars; and teams of observers tracking specific whale pods through the viewing area.
Dataset Citation
- Cite as: Rugh, David; Laake, Jeff; Hobbs, Roderick; Breiwick, Jeff (2015). Shore-based counts of the Eastern North Pacific gray whale stock from central California conducted from 1967-12-18 to 2007-02-22 (NCEI Accession 0138007). [indicate subset used]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0138007. Accessed [date].
Dataset Identifiers
ISO 19115-2 Metadata
gov.noaa.nodc:0138007
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Ordering Instructions | Contact NCEI for other distribution options and instructions. |
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NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information +1-301-713-3277 NCEI.Info@noaa.gov |
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NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information ncei.info@noaa.gov |
Time Period | 1967-12-18 to 2007-02-22 |
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates |
West: -121.94
East: -121.91
South: 36.4
North: 36.5
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Dataset Progress Status | Complete - production of the data has been completed Historical archive - data has been stored in an offline storage facility |
Data Update Frequency | As needed |
Supplemental Information | Submission Package ID: PP7DEL |
Purpose | Shore-based counts of gray whales have provided the fundamental data used to establish the abundance of the Eastern North Pacific Stock of Gray Whales. These abundance estimates are applied to trends analyses to establish the health of the stock. Results from this study were the basis for removing this stock of whales from the list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, the first mammalian species to do so without going extinct. Similarly, results from the shore-based counts are used by the International Whaling Commission to estimate the health of the stock relative to whaling quotas used by the Chukotka Eskimos and Makah Indians. |
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Last Modified: 2023-03-15T01:25:51Z
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov
For questions about the information on this page, please email: ncei.info@noaa.gov