---TITLE:     Bowhead Whale Subsistence Sensitivity Mapping

---AUTHOR(S):

    Data Contact:
      John C. George
      Senior Wildlife Biologist
      Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough
      P.O. Box 69
      Barrow, AK 99723
      USA

      (907) 852-0350
      craig.george@north-slope.org

    Metadata Contact:
      Allison Gaylord
      Nuna Technologies
      CIRES, 449 UCB, University of Colorado
      Boulder, CO 80309-0449
      USA

      (907) 399-1120
      nunatech@usa.net


---FUNDING SOURCE AND GRANT NUMBER:
    NSF Award OPP-0454996 
    USGS Award Number: 03HQAG0177

---DATA SET OVERVIEW:
    These data are part of the Barrow Area Spatial Data Infrastructure effort. 
    The Bowhead Whale Subsistence Sensitivity mapping project includes GIS data 
    on migration routes, seasonal ranges, hunting and search areas, and other 
    areas highly sensitive to seasonal disturbance. The data and associated map 
    are intended to be used as a guide in the planning and execution of research 
    in arctic marine environments.

    This map was prepared as a joint project of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 
    Commission and the U.S. National Science Foundation with the assistance of 
    the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, the North Slope 
    Borough Planning and Community Services GIS Division and the Barrow Arctic 
    Science Consortium with funding from the National Science Foundation.

    North Bounding Latitude:  75  degrees North
    South Bounding Latitude:  60  degrees North
    West Bounding Longitude:  179 degrees West
    East Bounding Longitude:  116 degrees West

    Time Period of Collection:   01 January 2003 - 31 December 2003 

---DATA COLLECTION and PROCESSING:
    The geodatabase and associated Adobe Acrobat and Encapsulated Postscript 
    versions of the map were compiled with ArcGIS. 

    1. A 25 mile buffer is projected around villages during the spring whale 
       hunt.
    2. The buffer for the village of Nuiqsut is centered on Cross Island.
    3. The buffer for the fall hunt is based upon known whale capture locations.
    4. The buffer for the spring whale hunt in Savoonga is based on the village
       of Savoonga; the buffer for the fall hunt is located at a point on the 
       south west shoreline of St. Lawrence Island.
    5. The buffer for the fall hunt is based upon known whale capture locations.
    6. 'Quiet Areas' include seasonally sensitive hunting and search areas 
       contiguous to villages and extends 40 miles offshore.
    7. '?' indicates no Bowhead whale sightings.

---DATA REMARKS:
    This data set is topologically correct. The GIS data and associated 
    cartography were completed with the best available data in 2003. It is 
    likely that bowhead tagging studies conducted in 2006-2009 will result in a 
    revision to the home range information.

---REFERENCES:
  Moore, S.E. and Reeves, R.R., 1993, Distribution and Movement. In: Burns, J.J.
    Montague, J.J. and Cowles, C.J. (eds.) 'The Bowhead Whale.' Special 
    publication No. 2 of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. 787 pp. Richardson,
    W.J. (ed.), 1999. Marine mammal and acoustical monitoring of Western 
    Geophysical's open warer program in the Alaska Beafort Sea, 1998. LGL Rep.
    TA2230-3. Rep. from LGL Ltd., King City, Ont., and Greenridge Sciences Inc.,
    Santa Barbara, CA, for Western Geophysical, Houston, TX, and Nat. Mar. Fish.
    Serv., Anchorage, AT., and Silver Spring, MD. 390 pp.