{ "currentVersion": 10.41, "id": 29, "name": "Commercial Whale Watching Areas", "type": "Feature Layer", "description": "The Commercial Whale Watching Areas layer depicts activity areas mapped by whale watch industry experts in 2020, using the Northeast Coastal and Marine Recreational Use Characterization Study (conducted in 2015 by SeaPlan, the Surfrider Foundation, and Point 97 under the direction of the Northeast Regional Planning Body) as a starting point. Whale watch owners, operators, naturalists, and data managers attended multiple webinars to review and discuss updates to the original data to best depict where whale watching takes place in the region, while also providing information about seasonality, species, and overall industry trends. The data are classified by the following categories:\n<\/p>