| Summary: | Bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) are one of the most important subsistence resources for the indigenous people of coastal northern and western Alaska, as well as key components of Arctic marine ecosystems, yet relatively little about their abundance, seasonal distribution, migrations, or foraging behaviors has been documented scientifically. Ice-associated seal populations may be negatively impacted by offshore oil and gas development as well as by climate change. During a cooperative effort between scientists and subsistence hunters in October 2004, 2005, and 2006, 13 female and 13 male juvenile (i.e., age <2) bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) were tagged with satellite-linked dive recorders (SDRs) in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. While the focus of this study was on young bearded seals, an additional three female spotted seal (Phoca largha) pups and two adult spotted seal males were captured and deployed with satellite telemetry devices. The data files within this dataset represent the 'raw' data obtained from the Wildlife Computers data portal. Each deployment (unique tag id + animal id combination) is provided as a zipped archive. The root folder also includes additional documentation. The various files and detailed column descriptions are described in the 'Spreadsheet-File-Descriptions.pdf' which was downloaded from Wildlife Computers (https://wildlifecomputers.com/support/downloads/). The '00_kotzeb04_get_data.Rmd' file is an RMarkdown file that provides code and documentation of the data retrieval process. The corresponding '00_kotzeb04_get_data.hml' file is generated from the RMarkdown file. All work was conducted in accordance with and under the authority of United States Marine Mammal Protection Act Scientific Research Permits 358-1585 and 358-1787. The project was reviewed and approved by the State of Alaska Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Permit No. 06-16 in 2007-2009.
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