Counts of Alaska Steller sea lion pups conducted on rookeries in Alaska from 1961-06-22 to 2015-07-18 (NCEI Accession 0128189)

STELLER SEA LION PUP COUNT DATABASE
Last Updated: July, 2015

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/Publications/AFSC-TM/NOAA-TM-AFSC-251.pdf
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/Publications/AFSC-TM/NOAA-TM-AFSC-321.pdf

The file SSLpupcounts2016.csv contains counts of Steller sea lion pups on rookeries and major haulouts in Alaska from the NMML data base. The counts were made between 1961 and 2015.

The pup count data file (SSLpupcounts2016.csv) is in ASCII text format and fields are comma delimited (.csv). It contains the following fields:

SITENAME
REGIONNUMB: 5 = Southeast Alaska,
6 = Eastern Gulf of Alaska
7 = Central Gulf of Alaska
8 = Western Gulf of Alaska
9 = Eastern Aleutian Islands
10 = Central Aleutian Islands
11 = Western Aleutian Islands
12 = Bering Sea

TRENDSITE 0 - not a trend site, 1 - is a trend site
ROOKERY 0 - not a rookery, 1 - is a rookery, 2 - special case, rookery but not a trend rookery.

MONTH 1-12, 99 is unknown/missing
DAY 1-31, 99 is unknown/missing
YEAR

PUPCOUNT (live pups only, does not include pups dead at time of count)
COUNTTYPE: 1 = aerial photo (35mm)
2 = medium-format (5 inch) aerial photo
3 = aerial photo (digital)
4 = aerial, visual estimate
5 = beach/ground count
6 = viewpoint observations
7 = count from skiff nearshore
8 = count from ship offshore
9 = other (explain in comments)
10 = UAV photos
99 = unknown or not specified
SOURCE: 1 = NMFS/National Marine Mammal Laboratory
2 = Alaska Department of Fish and Game
3 = Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
4 = Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
5 = NMFS/Southwest Fisheries Science Center
6 = Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans
7 = other (explain in comments)
99 = unknown or not specified
REPLICATE: R if replicate count (different day) during the same survey, N otherwise. If there are replicate counts for a site, all counts for that site are marked R. Beginning in 2010, there are multiple counts at the same site with the same date. These are the raw counts of more than one counter using aerial photos, and in these cases, the replicate field is marked N. Note that starting in 2002, individual countertype counts during beach/ground counts are listed in the Comments, and again Replicate is "N".
COUNTER: initials of counter (photo) started in 2010)
COMMENTS: (Clarification of COUNTTYPE, SOURCE, or COUNT as necessary); Data Quality Information: There are several issues with the data that users need to be aware of before using this database.
1. This database is continually being updated and modified. Users should check for the date the database was last modified.
2. This data set includes counts from all times year, some of which may not be appropriate for particular analyses. The number of sea lions at a given site is extremely seasonally dependent. Comparison of counts from November in one year and from July in another year is likely to produce confounded results. Population trend analyses typically are performed using data only from the breeding season June and July.
3. The most precise counts, and thus the counts preferred for population trend analyses, are aerial survey counts made from photographs. Counts made from skiffs or ships may be very accurate for small numbers of sea lions but imprecise for large groups. Visual estimates made from the air are best used as qualitative not quantitative data.
4. In general, this database includes counts of non-pup (adult and juvenile) Steller sea lions. This means that counts made during the breeding season (June and July) do not include newborn pups. After pups undergo their first molt in the fall or early winter, however, they are the same color as older sea lions and they are difficult or impossible to distinguish from juveniles. For this reason, counts made outside of the breeding season do include pups of the year that are 4 to 12 months old.
5. A zero in the COUNT field means the site was surveyed and no sea lions were present. If a site was not surveyed in a given year it is not included in the database; there are no records with the COUNT field blank.
6. Throughout the database "99" indicates that a day, month, platform, or source is unknown.
7. There are blanks in the COMMENT field. This may cause problems when end users import the ASCII text file into their preferred software format.
8. Site names are not consistent throughout the database. Surveys prior to 1990 frequently combined separate haul-out sites on an island into a single count, whereas more recent surveys usually list sites separately (e.g., Agattu versus Agattu/Cape Sabak and Agattu/Gillon Point). Also, the NMML continues to refine the definition of individual sites and occasionally adds new sites.