Techniques for Shipboard Surveys of Marine Birds 



by 



Patrick J. Gould and Douglas J. Forsell 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 Alaska Fish and Wildlife Research Center 



1011 E. Tudor Road 

 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 



ABSTRACT. We describe shipboard and small boat techniques used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service in Alaska to survey marine birds at sea. The basis is a 10-min, 300-m-wide, strip transect 

 taken from a platform moving at a constant speed in a constant direction. Special routines, such 

 as instantaneous counts of traveling birds, are explained to help reduce biases caused by factors 

 such as varying flight patterns, ship-following and avoidance, and patchy distributions. Data recor- 

 ding and coding techniques and formats, based on those developed for the National Oceanic Data 

 Center, are described. 



The collection and management of data on marine birds 

 is of vital concern to agencies and individuals interested 

 in coastal and marine ecosystems in Alaska. Surveys of 

 marine birds that, by nature, spend most of their lives in 

 pelagic habitats, are important for assessing and monitor- 

 ing migratory bird populations that are affected by man's 

 use of natural resources. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice, long active in population surveys, has established a 

 survey data bank along the lines suggested by King et al. 

 (1967) and King et al. (1974). This data bank now con- 

 tains more than 8,000 h of observations from areas 

 throughout the North Pacific Ocean and from the Beau- 

 fort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas. The impetus for the 

 development of survey techniques, data formats, and 

 codes, and the collection of the original data, came from 

 the research efforts of the Outer Continental Shelf En- 

 vironmental Assessment Program, funded by the Bureau 

 of Land Management in the 1970's. The data bank has 

 already proved useful (Hunt et al. 1981 ; Gould et al. 1982; 

 Thorsteinson 1984), and will become increasingly so as 

 it grows with future contributions. This system will enable 

 resource managers to delineate critical habitats, monitor 

 populations, and assess potential effects of coastal devel- 

 opments on marine birds. 



A data bank of this magnitude is dependent on contribu- 

 tions from many sources, and all of the data residing in 

 it must be comparable. We present a standardized set of 

 techniques for surveying birds in oceanic habitats, with 

 instructions for their use by anyone planning to contribute 



to this bank. With modifications, we have relied on the 

 codes and data formats established and standardized by 

 the National Oceanic Data Center (NODC) of the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Researchers in- 

 terested in developing similar survey programs can con- 

 tact NODC at their Services Division in Washington, DC, 

 or their Alaska regional office in Anchorage, for com- 

 plete and current listings. Similarly, researchers can con- 

 tact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of 

 Migratory Bird Management Bird Banding Laboratory, 

 for alpha codes relating to all North American bird 

 species. 



Working conditions aboard different vessels vary con- 

 siderably and can greatly affect the quantity, quality, and 

 type of data collected. Frequently, marine bird or mam- 

 mal observations are secondary to the major purpose of 

 a cruise and the observers on board have limited ability 

 to set itineraries such as cruise track, speed, and dura- 

 tion. A cruise protocol may or may not be established 

 before leaving port and changes in ship routine may be 

 necessary on short notice during the cruise. Not all ships 

 are equipped to provide accurate or timely information 

 on weather and water conditions; in some cases even 

 accurate positions and ship speed are difficult to obtain 

 for individual transects. The obvious consequences include 

 small sample sizes and incomplete data sets. While this 

 manual deals with shipboard techniques developed for 

 Alaska, we offer it as a model for planning or conduct- 

 ing seabird surveys anywhere in the world. The codes and 



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