Cetacean and sea turtle sightings from offshore Republic of Congo

Original provider: Marijke N. de Boer Dataset credits: Marijke N. de Boer Abstract: The cetacean communities inhabiting eastern tropical Atlantic (ETA) waters along the west coast of Africa are globally amongst the most poorly studied. The limited recent information available is derived mainly from the monitoring of strandings and fisheries interactions at landing sites. However, little is known about the habitat preferences of the species that occur off Congo because at-sea sightings have rarely been published. Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to contribute information on the distribution and relative abundance of cetaceans sighted during a geophysical survey in Congo waters and where possible relating the occurrence of different species with oceanographic parameters such as sea surface temperature (SST) and depth. Supplemental information: The cetacean & turtle data were collected during a dedicated marine megafauna survey