IMIS - Marine Research Groups

This survey covered an area of approximately 4,100 square kilometers (km2)(1,200 square nautical miles ([nm2]) to document marine mammal and sea turtle distribution around the island of Guam. The approach primarily followed opportunistic survey protocols used in a recent survey around Guam (Ligon et al. 2011), which remained nearshore (within 5.6 kilometers [km] or 3 nautical miles [nm] of the coastline). ). The resulting sightings, therefore, consisted of spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris; 7 of 9 sightings) and a mixed group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). In addition, one species of sea turtle was observed (green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas). Additional lines of effort following standard line-transect protocols were attempted (out to 10 nm from shore) when sea conditions permitted. The sighting of short-finned pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins on 02/22/11 was an aggregation of the two species and recorded as a single record. This sighting was split into each species in this dataset.