Delaware / New Jersey / Pennsylvania 2014 ESI MARINE MAMMALS Polygons

Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania coastal and tidal waters contain sensitive biological resource data for seals, whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Vector polygons represent marine mammal distribution and haul-out sites, with species-specific data stored in relational tables. This data set is a portion of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data, which characterizes environments by their sensitivity to spilled oil.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill sensitivity and potential impacts based on marine mammal distribution polygons.
• Planning coastal conservation efforts based on identified marine mammal haul-out sites.
• Analyzing seasonal wildlife patterns based on stored species-specific seasonality information.

Strengths

• Data includes species-specific attributes like abundance, seasonality, and life history.
• Covers marine and tidal waters for three U.S. states: Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
• Part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill response.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is stored in PDF format, which is not ideal for direct geospatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely compiled from biological surveys and research for environmental sensitivity mapping.

Time Range

Snapshot from 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:26:44.009857; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Marine and tidal waters of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.