Marine Mammal At-Sea Survey Protocol

Marine Mammal At-Sea Survey Protocol

Updated September 2026

Effort

Observation effort was recorded continuously using CountCOFI, the visual observing software used aboard survey vessels. At the start of each observation period, effort status was logged as “on effort” (code 0) unless one of several standardized conditions required effort to be suspended. Effort was recorded as “off” under the following conditions: when the vessel was at station (code 1), when sea state exceeded Beaufort force 6 (code 2A), when visibility fell below 0.5 nautical miles (code 2B), during periods of heavy rain (code 2C), when observation was suspended by order (code 3), when vessel speed dropped below 5 knots (code 5), when only one observer was present (code 6), or for any other reason not otherwise categorized (code 7).

Except under these conditions, observers remained on effort for the duration of all daylight transits, regardless of whether the vessel was actively on a designated survey transect. Transect-specific effort was tracked separately (Table 4, “trn” field) to distinguish coastal, offshore, and SCCOOS transects from periods of transit, weather-related suspension, naval exclusion, or effort interrupted for other logged reasons.

When sea state reached Beaufort force 6 or greater, observers entered a weather watch protocol rather than terminating effort outright. During weather watch, observers alternated 30-minute shifts to periodically assess whether conditions had improved sufficiently to resume standard on-effort observation.

Table 4. Event-specific columns for event code “EFF”.

Raw Col. Raw Header Xpand Col Xpand Header Min. String width Example Description
7 X1 10 eff 1 5 Observation effort
ON = 0
OFF – Station = 1
OFF - BFT > 5 = 2A
OFF – Vis <0.5 = 2B
OFF – Heavy Rain = 2C
OFF – Ordered = 3
OFF – Spd < 5 kn = 5
OFF – 1 Obs = 6
OFF – other = 7
8 X2 11 trn 1 0 Transect effort
ON = 0
OFF – coastal TRN = 1
OFF – offshore TRN = 2
OFF – SCCOOS TRN = 3
OFF – transit = 4
OFF – weather = 5
OFF – naval = 6
OFF – comments = 7
9 X3 12 port 3 EMK Port observer initials
Initials available in the app are drawn from the settings file.
10 X4 13 star 3 AES Starboard observer initials
11 X5 8 cruise 8 1604 Cruise number
This is drawn automatically by the app from the settings file.
12 X6 9 vessel 20 Melville Vessel name
This is drawn automatically by the app from the settings file.