Gulf Watch Alaska, Benthic Monitoring Component: Sea Otter Aerial Survey Data Kenai Fjords National Park, 2002-2016

These data are is part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long term monitoring program, nearshore monitoring component. Specifically, these data describe sea otter (Enhydra lutris) aerial survey observations from the waters around Kenai Fjords National Park between 2002 and 2016. Sea otters are a keystone predator, well known for structuring the nearshore marine ecosystem through their consumption of invertebrate prey. The dataset consists of 3 comma delimited files exported from Microsoft Excel. The data consists of 1. Strip transect counts, 2. Intensive Search Unit (ISU) counts, and 3. Transect coordinates. For each aerial survey, a pilot flew an airplane at an altitude of 91m over pre-determined transects while an observer searched [...]