Arctic | Mammals
Joint Beaufort Sea surveys for ice seals and polar bears Presenter: Erin Moreland , erin.moreland@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center Peter Boveng , peter.boveng@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Gavin Brady , gavin.brady@noaa.gov, Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington Cynthia Christman , cynthia.christman@noaa.gov, Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington Stacie Hardy , stacie.hardy@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center Benjamin X. Hou , ben.hou@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center Skyla Walcott , skyla.walcott@noaa.gov, Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington The Joint Beaufort Sea Surveys (JoBSS) project addresses a critical need for fundamental assessment data on ice-associated seals through a cooperative effort with researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey, in consultation with Yukon and Northwest Territories. Polar bears were included in this effort to supplement existing abundance estimates from dedicated polar bear surveys and mark-recapture methods. A total of 28 survey flights were completed between April 17 and June 11, 2021, covering 18,618 km of trackline over 340,000 km2 of seal and polar bear habitat spanning U.S. and Canadian waters of the southern Beaufort Sea. Over 900,000 sets of multispectral imagery were collected and analyzed using artificial intelligence object detection models developed to detect animals in the infrared imagery and classify species in the color imagery. A total of 1,288 animal detections were confirmed by manual review of infrared detections. The ringed and bearded seal abundance estimates from this survey will complete the first set of comprehensive estimates for those species in U.S. waters.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2023 273
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