A survey of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) was carried out within the Blasket Islands candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) to derive density and abundance estimates and carry out static acoustic monitoring. Single platform line-transect surveys were carried out on six days between 16 July and 1 October 2007. Distance sampling was used to derive g(0), which is the density of harbour porpoises on the track of the vessel. Passive acoustic monitoring was carried out through the deployment of self-contained click detectors called T-PODs, which identify and log the echolocation clicks of harbour porpoises. A total of 74 tracks were surveyed of a total distance of 460 km. A total of 44 sightings of 102 individual harbour porpoise were recorded. Sightings of 25 common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), five minke whales (Balaenoptera acutoratrata) and two basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) were also recorded.
Abundance estimate and acoustic monitoring of Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena in the Blasket Islands cSAC
L o a d i n g
Overviewbiodiversitybiotacetaceanenvironmentirelandmammalmarinemarine faunanational parks and wildlife servicenpwsspecies distribution
Additional Information
KeyValue
Conforms To["The INSPIRE Directive or INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of European Community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.", "http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326"]
Contact Emaildatadelivery@housing.gov.ie
Contact NameDepartment of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
FrequencyOther
Guidhttps://data.gov.ie/dataset/3cca8cf1-0497-451e-8ad4-3eeaa20d19ef
Harvest Object Id3e932ce0-345c-4d20-91f9-b900f7893cc6
Harvest Source Id01350574-268d-4abb-b9b4-8108224932c4
Harvest Source Titledata.gov.ie - Environment
Identifier3cca8cf1-0497-451e-8ad4-3eeaa20d19ef
Issued2022-05-31
Language["http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/language/ENG"]
Modified2026-06-03T02:23:42
ProvenanceDuring each transect the position of the survey vessel was tracked continuously through a GPS receiver fed directly into a laptop while survey effort, including environmental conditions (sea-state, wind strength and direction, glare etc.), were recorded directly onto LOGGER software (IFAW) every 15 minutes. When a sighting was made the position of the vessel was recorded immediately and the angle of the sighting from the track of the vessel and the angular distance of the sighting from the vessel recorded. These data were communicated to the recorder in the wheelhouse via a VHF radio. The angle was recorded to the nearest degree via an angle board attached to the vessel immediately in front of each observer. Accurate distance estimation is essential for distance sampling. To assist in estimating distance, tests were carried out prior to the start of each survey by estimating distances to objects which could be verified using a Leica Rangemaster 1200.
Some data was amended to comply with GDPR legislation/ open data publication guidelines. The data was collected during the Harbour porpoise survey of 16th July 2007.
Publisher NameDepartment of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Publisher Urihttps://data.gov.ie/organization/department-of-housing-planning-community-and-local-government
Spatial{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-10.650444030762, 50.807923689449],[-10.650444030762, 55.993470564449], [-5.289115905762, 55.993470564449], [-5.289115905762, 50.807923689449], [-10.650444030762, 50.807923689449]]]}
Temporal End2007-11-30
Temporal Start2007-07-01
Theme["http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/data-theme/ENVI", "Environment"]
Urihttps://data.gov.ie/dataset/3cca8cf1-0497-451e-8ad4-3eeaa20d19ef