The National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) conducts research on marine mammals important to the mission of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with particular attention to issues related to marine mammals off the coasts of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. Research projects focus on ecology and behavior, population dynamics, life history, and status and trends.  Information is provided to various domestic and international organizations to assist in developing rational and appropriate management regimes for marine resources under NOAA's jurisdiction. These organizations include the NMFS Alaska and Northwest Regional Offices, the NMFS Office of Protected Resources, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the International Whaling Commission, and the Arctic Council. 

Research conducted by NMML utilizes a variety of methods and tools to obtain needed information. Determination of status and trends of marine mammal populations requires information on abundance, stock structure, mortality and net productivity. To obtain these data, censuses are carried out from ships, aircraft and on land. Radio and satellite-linked telemetry is utilized to determine movements and migrations, critical feeding areas and depths, and other behavioral data. Sophisticated analyses and modeling are carried out to determine necessary population parameters. Research programs are carried out cooperatively with many other federal, state and private sector collaborators.

Quarterly Reports

• NMML Reference Collections
  
• The Ice Whale in the Sea of Okhotsk
  
• Telemetry of Ice Seals Captured During a Research Cruise Aboard the McArthur II in the Eastern Bering Sea
  
• Testing a Ship-Based Unmanned Aerial Aircraft System (UAS) for Surveying the Bering Sea Pack Ice
  
• Russian Steller Sea Lion Research Update
  
• Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Aerial Surveys, September-October 2008
  
• Long-term Satellite Tags on Ribbon Seals Begin to Pay Off
  
• Northern Fur Seal Research in Alaska
  
• Passive Acoustic Monitoring
  
• Review of Ribbon Seal Status
  
• Biodiversity and Evolutionary Empiricism: A Systemic Approach to Fisheries Management
  
• Steller Sea Lion Research, Summer 2008
  
• Northern Fur Seal, Summer 2008
  
• PRIEST (Pacific Right Whale Evaluation Study) July-August, 2008
  
• Laser Morphometrics of Alaska Killer Whales
  
• AFSC Molecular Ecology Research Laboratory
  
• Abundance and Distribution Surveys for Ice Seals Conducted from the USCG Icebreaker Polar Sea, 6-27 April 2008
  
• Gray Whale Counts in January 2008
  
• Bowhead Whale Feeding Ecology Study
  
• Comanagement Activities with Alaska Native Organizations
  
• Polar Ecosystems Program Prepares for Ice Seal Research Cruises
  
• 2007 Steller Sea Lion Survey Results
  
• Northern Fur Seal Research
  
• Satellite Tagging Humpbacks in the South Pacific: Windows on the Whales' World
  
• Bogoslof Island Northern Fur Seal Research
  
• Steller Sea Lion Pup Survey
  
• Resight Surveys for Branded Steller Sea Lions
  
• Beluga Whales in Northern Cook Inlet, Alaska, August 2007
  
• Harbor Seal Census in Southeast Alaska
  
• Tests of New Sampling Technique to Track Harbor Seal Populations in Alaska Fjords
  
• The Dynamics of Hookworm Disease in Northern Fur Seals
  
• Steller Sea Lion Research
  
• Northern Fur Seal Update
  
• Cook Inlet Beluga Survey, June 2007
  
• Abundance and Distribution Surveys for Ice Seals Aboard the USCG Healy and the Oscar Dyson, 10 April - 18 June 2007
  
• Telemetry of Ice Seals Captured During the USCG Healy and Oscar Dyson Research Cruises in the Eastern Bering Sea
  
• Additional National Marine Mammal Laboratory quaterly reports

Publications

• BOVENG, P. L., J. L. BENGTSON, T. W. BUCKLEY, M. F. CAMERON, S. P. DAHLE, B. P. KELLY, B. A. MEGREY, J. E. OVERLAND, and N. J. WILLIAMSON. 2009. Status review of the spotted seal (Phoca largha). U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-200, 153 p. (.pdf, 7.13 MB).  Online.
  
• LANDER, M. E., T. R. LOUGHLIN, M. G. LOGSDON, G. R. VanBLARICOM, B. S. FADELY, and L. W. FRITZ. 2009. Regional differences in the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of oceanographic habitat used by Steller sea lions. Ecol. Appl.19:1645-1659. 
  
• YOCHEM P. K., B. S. STEWART, T. S. GELATT, and D. B. SINIFF. 2009. Health assessment of Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddellii, in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, p. 123-138. In K. R. Kerry and M. J. Riddle (editors), Health of Antarctic Wildlife: a Challenge for Science and Policy. Springer Verlag. Berlin. 
  
• HOFFMAN, J. I., K. K. DASMAHAPATRA, W. AMOS, C. D. PHILLIPS, T. S. GELATT, and J. W. BICKHAM. 2009. Contrasting patterns of genetic diversity at three different genetic markers in a marine mammal metapopulation. Mol. Ecol.18:2961-2978. 
  
• HASTINGS, K. K., T. S. GELATT, and J. C. KING. 2009. Postbranding survival of Steller sea lion pups at Lowrie Island in Southeast Alaska. J. Wildl. Manage. 73:1040-1051.  
  
• 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. 
  
• RICK, T. C., R. L. DeLONG, J. M. ERLANDSON, T. J. BRAJE, T. L. JONES, D. J. KENNETT, T. A. WAKE, and P. L. WALKER. 2009. A trans-Holocene archaeological record of Guadalupe fur seals (Arctocephalus townsendi) on the California coast. Mar. Mammal Sci. 25:487-502. 
  
• KUHN, C. E., D. E. CROCKER, Y. TREMBLAY, and D. P. COSTA. 2009. Time to eat: Measurements of feeding behaviour in a large marine predator, the northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris. J. Anim. Ecol. 78:513-523. 
  
Additional National Marine Mammal Laboratory Publications

Posters

• North Pacific Beaked Whale Habitat Analysis Using Platforms of Opportunity (POP) Data
  By:  DEE ALLEN, ARI S FRIEDLAENDER, DAVID W JOHNSTON, WENDY LEWIS, ROBYN ANGLISS
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 671KB)   Online.
  
• How Close Is Too Close? Acting on Short-term Disturbance to Seals Amidst Uncertainty About Long-term Impacts and Vessel Compliance Under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)
  By:  JOHN JANSEN, PETER BOVENG, SHAWN DAHLE, GAVIN BRADY, JAY Ver HOEF, JOHN BENGTSON, KAJA BRIX, ALERIA JENSEN
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 650KB)   Online.
  
• 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.
  
• Seasonal Movements, Habitat Selection, Foraging and Haul-out Behavior of Adult Bearded Seals
  By:  MICHAEL CAMERON, PETER BOVENG, JOHN GOODWIN, ALEX WHITING
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 647KB)   Online.
  
• Long-Term Satellite Telemetry Records Provide New Insights About Ice-Associated Seal Habitat Preference and Breeding Site Fidelity
  By:  PETER L. BOVENG, JOSH M. LONDON, MICHAEL F. CAMERON, BRENDAN P. KELLY
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 266KB)   Online.
  
• Use of BAS Geolocation Tags to Study Northern Fur Seal (Callorhinus ursinus) Winter Migrations
  By:  OLGA BELONOVICH, RUSSEL D. ANDREWS, VLADIMIR N. BURKANOV, RANDALL W. DAVIS, IAIN J. STANILAND
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 3.08MB)   Online.
  
• Results of a Photoidentification Study of Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in the Northwestern Pacific in 1995-2008
  By:  TATIANA SHULEZHKO, HAL SATO, EVGENY MAMAEV, VLADIMIR BURKANOV
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 7.93MB)   Online.
  
• Birth Rates and Dispersal of Marked Female Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in Russia
  By:  VLADIMIR BURKANOV, ALEXEY ALTUKHOV, RUSSEL ANDREWS, DONALD CALKINS, THOMAS GELATT, EVGENY MAMAEV
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 18th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Quebec City, Canada, Oct 2009
  (2009 poster, .pdf, 4.05MB)   Online.
  
Additional National Marine Mammal Laboratory Posters