The waters of the French Antilles are habitats to a large number of cetacean species. The AGOA sanctuary is dedicated to their protection. In Guadeloupe, non profit organisations (NPO) and whale-watchers have been collecting high-quality observation data for years, thanks to their recurring presence in the field, and thanks to their skills in cetacean recognition.
Kakila (“who’s there?”) is a database of cetacean sightings built from these heterogeneous data, thanks to the leading role of the NPO OMMAG. More than 4,700 observations, carried out between 2000 and 2019, are referenced there. Twenty-one different species have been identified, mysticetes as well as odontocetes.
Kakila was built to be as compliant as possible with FAIR principles supported by a FAIR expert involved in EOSC Life. It aimed at making data easy to find, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Kakila is fully accessible thanks to the PNDB (National Biodiversity Data Center) of the MNHN, https://www.pndb.fr
Kakila direct access link: https://data.pndb.fr/view/doi:10.48502/8bb5-pk85
The publication that describes the construction and results of Kakila was just published in Biodiversity Data Journal:
Coché L, Arnaud E, Bouveret L, David R, Foulquier E, Gandilhon N, Jeannesson E, Le Bras Y, Lerigoleur E, Lopez PJ, Madon B, Sananikone J, Sèbe M, Le Berre I, Jung J-L (2021) Kakila database: Towards a FAIR community approved database of cetacean presence in the waters of the Guadeloupe Archipelago, based on citizen science. Biodiversity Data Journal 9: e69022. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e69022
