5.4 THE BLM DATA 



5.4.1 How the BLM Data is Read into the Program 



The BLM data is read into the program from tape. The program as written 

 requires that a JCL card with DONAME BLMDATA be supplied pointing to the tape 

 containing the raw data. The data is on File One of the IBM Standard Label 

 Tape with Volumn Serial Number: NOSC. The data set name is BLMDATA. The tape 

 is written at 6,250 BPI with a logical record length of 80 characters, and a 

 block size of 3120. There are 15,599 card image records. Each record contains 

 five variables. They are: Site number (see Figure 5-7), season, species (see 

 Q15 in Section 5.3.2), low-density estimate, and high-density estimate. 



The codes are as follows: 



Winter = 1, Spring = 2, Summer = 3, and Fall = 4. 



The data is not column dependent and can be read with SPSS using f reef i eld 

 input or SAS using list input. 



5.4.2 How the BLM Data Was Derived 



The following is a direct quotation from the BLM report explaining the deriva- 

 tion of their data: 



"5. Data Analysis 



From the onset of this study we have intended to correlate cetacean 

 abundance, distribution, and movement with measurable features of the 

 physical environment. Some of these features such as bottom topography, 

 bottom slope, water depth, and distance from mainland are fixed in time 

 and space and are constants. Others, such as sea surface temperature, 

 wind direction and velocity are seasonal and variable. 



We divided the Southern California Bight (SCB) into nine zones or 

 subunits of similar ecogeographic types. We further divided the study 

 area into 1,000 quadrat blocks of five minutes latitude by five minutes 

 longitude for which water depth, bottom slope, and distance factors were 

 determined and entered into the computer file. 



B-65 



ee 



