DOI: 10.5061/dryad.h18931zsv
title: Targeting fin whale conservation in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea: Insights on movements and behaviour from biologging and habitat modelling

description: Biologging and habitat modelling are key tools supporting the development
 of conservation measures and mitigating the effects of anthropogenic
 pressures on marine species. Here, we analysed satellite telemetry data
 and foraging habitat preferences in relation to chlorophyll-a productivity
 fronts to understand the movements and behaviour of endangered
 Mediterranean fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) during their
 spring-summer feeding aggregation in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea.
 Eleven individuals were equipped with Argos satellite transmitters across
 three years, with transmissions averaging 23.5 ± 11.3 days. Hidden Markov
 Models were used to identify foraging behaviour, revealing how individuals
 showed consistency in their use of seasonal core feeding grounds; this was
 supported by the distribution of potential foraging habitat. Importantly,
 tracked whales spent most of their time in areas with no explicit
 protected status within the study region. This highlights the need for
 enhanced time- and place-based conservation actions to mitigate the
 effects of anthropogenic impacts for this species, notably ship strike
 risk and noise disturbance in an area of exceptionally high maritime
 traffic levels. These findings strengthen the need to further assess
 critical habitats and Important Marine Mammal Areas that are crucial for
 focussed conservation, management, and mitigation efforts.
description: The dataset contains raw location data from eleven fin whales
 equipped with ARGOS satellite transmitters in the North-Western
 Mediterranean Sea. 
description: # Targeting fin whale conservation in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea:
 insights on movements and behaviour from biologging and habitat modelling
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zsv](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zsv) This file contains location data from eleven fin whales equipped with ARGOS satellite transmitters and tracked in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea. ## Description of the data and file structure Ptt = Tag ID Instrument = Transmitter model. "Mk10" is a depth-recording (SPLASH) satellite tag (n = 1), "UT" are Smart Position Only satellite tags (n = 10) Date = Date and time of location transmission, in the format YYYY-mm-dd hh:mm:ss (UTC) Type = Satellite system used for transmission. When a Mote is used instead of the satellite system, the location quality rating is not available (as in row 5322 of the dataset) Quality = Location quality rating. B, A, 0, 1, 2 or 3, in increasing order of position accuracy. Estimated error for class 3 is predicted at &lt; 250 m by the ARGOS service, for 2 = 250-500 m, for 1 = 500-1,500 m, for 0 = &gt;1,500 m Latitude = Latitude of position transmission, ‘denatured’ to 0.1 degrees according to Chapman (2020) Longitude = Longitude of position transmission, ‘denatured’ to 0.1 degrees according to Chapman (2020) **Reference** Chapman AD (2020) Current Best Practices for Generalizing Sensitive Species Occurrence Data. Copenhagen: GBIF Secretariat. [https://doi.org/10.15468/doc-5jp4-5g10](https://doi.org/10.15468/doc-5jp4-5g10).