• Mike Tift

    Mike Tift
    Sonoma State Univ
    Studied the demography of California sea lions and northern fur seals on San Miguel Island off southern California.

    During the summer of 2008 I had the amazing opportunity to spend eight weeks studying the demography of California sea lions and northern fur seals on San Miguel Island with scientists from the AFSC's National Marine Mammal Laboratory. This was the most exciting and memorable experience I've had in my entire life. The individuals that I had the chance to meet and work with were distinguished scientists and exceptionally helpful. I gained a multitude of skills from working with marine mammals to learning different techniques and methods used in field research. This internship really helped me to decide that field work is something I would like to do as a career.

    San Miguel is the western most island that makes up the Channel Islands in southern California. The island receives cold, nutrient-rich, up-welled water from the North Pacific which helps support an array of sea and terrestrial life. While on San Miguel Island I saw the endangered island fox, blue whales, humpback whales, gray whales, common dolphin, and several species of birds.

    The island is currently home to five pinniped species which are; California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus), northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), and the endangered Guadalupe fur seal (Arctocephalus townsendi). During my summer visit to San Miguel Island there were over 119,000 California sea lions and over 10,000 northern fur seals present for pupping and breeding seasons. This is the largest pinniped rookery in the entire world and only a few people in the world get the chance to experience an extended trip to this remarkable island.

  • View of Adams Cove rookery from a stationary blind.


    Being a part of the remarkable research team from NOAA/AFSC really helped me to understand what it's like to be a field biologist. The long eventful days were full of excitement and often lots of hiking to different areas of the island. Exploring the different locations of the island and seeing the difference in the numbers of animals and behaviors at specific sites really taught me a lot about the different pinniped species.

    Some of my major tasks on the island included: resighting branded California sea lions, reading northern fur seal flipper tags, instrumenting of female northern fur seals, performing live and dead pup counts for both California sea lions and northern fur seals, assisting with pup necropsies and observing territorial behavior of California sea lion males.

    Seeing as San Miguel Island is uninhabited, the only people that I encountered while on the island were the researchers I worked with and occasionally the park ranger and hikers from the other end of the island. The island has no trees and is covered mostly in chaparral. Hikes around the island usually encounter steep hillsides and fairly rugged terrain. The weather varied from 50 degrees (F) with 60 mph gusts to over 100 degrees (F) with no wind. The conditions on San Miguel really tested my ability to be isolated from society as well as work in extreme conditions.

  • sea lion

    Female northern fur seal with green algae on her back and red algae on her chest from foraging at sea for long periods of time.


    While on the island there were several crew changes in which I had the pleasure of working with prominent researchers and veterinarians from universities and other marine mammal organizations. Since we all lived in the same research station while on the island I became really close friends with everyone I was working with. Everyone always answered my endless amounts of questions and made sure that I was fully involved in every project conducted.

    At the end of my internship I was able to spend two weeks working in the National Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle, WA. I really enjoyed analyzing and sorting the data I helped retrieve from the island. Being able to see the trends from previous years and apply the data I collected was very interesting. Also, at the lab I was able to make contacts with several new marine mammal researchers and fisheries scientists.

    I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with than everyone at the NMML. The AFSC internship is an experience that I will never forget!