link to AFSC home page
Mobile users can use the Site Map to access the principal pages
 


link to NMFS home page link to AFSC home page link to NOAA home page
Humpback Whale with Calf

The Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program (CAEP) is responsible for conducting studies to assess the status of cetaceans in Alaskan waters under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Major  CAEP projects have included studies of North Pacific right whales, bowhead whales, gray whales, humpback whales, beluga whales, killer whales, Dall’s porpoise, and harbor porpoise.  Other species included in CAEP research are blue whales, fin whales, sei whales, minke whales, sperm whales, beaked whales (including Cuvier’s, Baird’s, and Stejneger’s), and Pacific white-sided dolphins.  Most research projects involve determination of abundance, trends, stock structure, habitat use, and feeding ecology using aerial and vessel surveys, shore-based counts, acoustic studies, radio and satellite tagging, genetic studies, photo-identification of individual animals, and opportunistic sighting data.  CAEP uses the results of these stock assessments to provide the scientific advice necessary to manage cetaceans in Alaskan waters.  CAEP scientists also collaborate widely with other national and international research groups working on cetaceans across the North Pacific and, sometimes, in other oceans.

Program Leader: Phillip Clapham

Recent Reports, Publications, and Posters

Quarterly Reports
Publications
  • WADE, P. R., J. M. Ver HOEF, and D. P. DeMASTER. 2009. Mammal-eating killer whales and their prey-trend data for pinnipeds and sea otters in the North Pacific Ocean do not support the sequential megafaunal collapse hypothesis. Mar. Mammal Sci. 25(3):737-747. 
     
  • MIZROCH, S. A., D. W. RICE, D. ZWIEFELHOFER, J. WAITE, and W. L. PERRYMAN. 2009. Distribution and movements of fin whales in the North Pacific Ocean. Mammal Rev. 39:193-227. 
     
  • VASSILAKOS, D., A. NATOLI, M. DAHLHEIM, and A. R. HOELZEL. 2009. Balancing and directional selection at exon-2 of the MHC DQB1 locus among populations of odontocete cetaceans. Mol. Biol. Evol. 26:681-689. 
     
  • JEFFERSON, T. A., D. FERTL, J. BOLANOS-JIMENEZ, and A. N. ZERBINI. 2009. Distribution of common dolphins (Delphinus spp.) in the western Atlantic Ocean: a critical re-examination. Mar. Biol. 156:1109-1124. 
     
  • CARRETTA, J. V., K. A. FORNEY, M. S. LOWRY, J. BARLOW, J. BAKER, D. JOHNSTON, B. HANSON, M. M. MUTO, D. LYNCH, and L. CARSWELL. 2009. U.S. Pacific marine mammal stock assessments: 2008. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SWFSC-434, 316p. + appendices. (.pdf, 6.48 MB).  Online.
     
  • CLAPHAM, P., and Y. IVASHCHENKO. 2009. A whale of a deception. Mar. Fish. Rev. 71(1):44-52. (.pdf, 2.16MB).  Online.
     
  • CLAPHAM, P., Y. MIKHALEV, W. FRANKLIN, D. PATON, C. S. BAKER, Y. V. IVASHCHENKO, and R. L. BROWNELL, Jr. 2009. Catches of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, by the Soviet Union and other nations in the Southern Ocean, 1947-1973. Mar. Fish. Rev. 71(1):39-43. (.pdf, 437KB).  Online.
     
  • PINTO de Sá ALVES, L. C., A. ANDRIOLO, A. N. ZERBINI, J. L. ALTMAYER PIZZORNO, and P. J. CLAPHAM. 2009. Record of feeding by humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in tropical waters off Brazil. Mar Mammal Sci. 25(2):416-419. 
     
  • BOERSMA, P. D., G. A. REBSTOCK, E. FRERE, and S. E. MOORE. 2009. Following the fish: Penguins and productivity in the South Atlantic. Ecol. Monogr. 79:59-76. 
     
  • PARSONS, K. M., K. C. BALCOMB III, J. K. B. FORD, and J. W. DURBAN. 2009. The social dynamics of southern resident killer whales and conservation implications for this endangered population. Anim. Behav. 77:963-971. 
     
  • DAHLHEIM, M. E., P. A. WHITE, and J. M. WAITE. 2009. Cetaceans of Southeast Alaska: Distribution and seasonal occurrence. J. Biogeogr. 36:410-426. 
     
  • ANGLISS, R. P., and B. M. ALLEN. 2009. Alaska marine mammal stock assessments, 2008. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-193, 258 p. (.pdf, 14.4MB).  Online.
     
  • Additional recent Cetacean Assessment & Ecology Program publications


Posters
  • Bowhead Whales, Balaena mysticetus, in the Okhotsk Sea
    By:  YULIA IVASHCHENKO, PHIL CLAPHAM
    Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 3.6MB)   Online.

     
  • Evidence of Feeding by Bowhead Whales from Aerial Photography
    By:  JULIE A. MOCKLIN, DAVID J. RUGH, SUE E. MOORE
    Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 1.85MB)   Online.

     
  • Discriminating Between Free-Ranging Long-Finned (Globicephala melas) and Short-Finned (Globicephala macrorhynchus) Pilot Whales off the East Coast of the United States
    By:  BRENDA K. RONE, RICHARD M. PACE, III, ANTHONY MARTINEZ, SOLANGE BRAULT
    Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 4MB)   Online.

     
  • Long-term Survival of Humpback Whales Radio-tagged in Alaska
    By:  SALLY A. MIZROCH, MICHAEL F. TILLMAN, SUSAN JURASZ, JANICE M. STRALEY, OLGA von ZIEGESAR, LOUIS M. HERMAN, ADAM A. PACK, SCOTT BAKER, JIM DARLING, DEBBIE GLOCKNER-FERRARI, MARK FERRARI, DAN SALDEN, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM
    Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 525KB)   Online.

     
  • Quantifying Impacts of Habitat Loss on Extinction Risk and Recovery Potential for the Endangered Cook Inlet Beluga
    By:  RODERICK C. HOBBS, KIM E. W. SHELDEN, BRIAN S. FADELY
    Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 1.77MB)   Online.

     
  • Occurrence of the Critically Endangered North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in the Bering Sea
    By:  ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, CATHERINE BERCHOK, AMY KENNEDY, BRENDA RONE, JESSICA CRANCE, DAVE MELLINGER, SHARON NIEUKIRK, SUE E. MOORE
    Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 1.43MB)   Online.

     
  • Bowhead Whale Feeding Ecology Study (BOWFEST) Aerial Surveys: a Comparison of Bowhead Whale Distribution and Survey Effort in 2007 and 2008 in the Vicinity of Barrow, Alaska
    By:  KIMBERLY T. GOETZ, DAVID J. RUGH, JULIE A. MOCKLIN
    Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 8.32MB)   Online.

     
  • Cetacean Distribution in the Bering Sea in the Spring and Summer 2008
    By:  NANCY A. FRIDAY, ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, JANICE M. WAITE, AMY S. KENNEDY, BRENDA K. RONE, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, SUE E. MOORE
    Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 3.66MB)   Online.

     
  • Occurrence of the Endangered North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in the Bering Sea in 2008
    By:  ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, CATHERINE BERCHOK, AMY KENNEDY, BRENDA RONE, DAVE MELLINGER, SHARON NIEUKIRK, and SUE E. MOORE
    Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2009
    (2009 poster, .pdf, 2.42MB)   Online.

     
  • Marine Mammal Occurrence in the Northeastern Chukchi Sea, Alaska –Summer 2008
    By:  LAURA MORSE, JANET CLARKE, DAVE RUGH
    Conference:  International American Cetacean Society Conference (11th), Monterey, CA, Nov 2008
    (2008 poster, .pdf, 311KB)   Online.

     
  • Marine Mammal Occurrence in the Northeastern Chukchi Sea, Alaska - Comparison of Data from Autumn 1989-91 and Autumn 2008
    By:  JANET CLARKE, LAURA MORSE, DAVE RUGH
    Conference:  International American Cetacean Society Conference (11th), Monterey, CA, Nov 2008
    (2008 poster, .pdf, 286KB)   Online.

     
  • BSIERP Project B66: Baleen Whale Broad-Scale Distribution
    By:  NANCY A. FRIDAY, ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, JANICE M. WAITE, AMY S. KENNEDY, BRENDA K. RONE, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, SUE E. MOORE
    Conference:  BEST-BSIERP Principal Investigator Meeting, Girdwood, AK, Oct 2008
    (2008 poster, .pdf, 4.1MB)   Online.

     
  • Additional recent Cetacean Assessment & Ecology Program poster presentations



Webmaster | Privacy | Disclaimer | Accessibility