National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank

Background

In 1989, the NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources collaborated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology  (NIST) to create the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB). The NMMTB receives tissue samples from selected marine mammals and preserves them at cryogenic temperatures (≤ -150 °C) in liquid nitrogen vapor-phase freezers. In 1992, the NMMTB was formally established by the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Act (Public Law 102-587).

The NMMTB is an important component of the NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP). The bank receives samples from Alaska through the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project and samples from throughout the coastal United States, including the Pacific Islands region, through the MMHSRP.

NIST maintains the NMMTB as part of the NIST Biorepository (formerly known as the Marine Environmental Specimen Bank). The NIST Biorepository is a part of the Chemical Sciences Division/Biospecimen Science Group and is located at the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, SC. 

Description

NIST developed protocols for collecting and archiving tissues, which are designed to:

1. Provide sufficient material for multiple analyses.

2. Minimize the possibility of sample change and/or loss during storage.

3. Minimize inadvertent contamination during sample handling and ensure sample integrity.

4. Provide for long-term sample stability through cryogenic techniques.

5. Track and maintain a record of sample history.

Tissue sources include:

• Freshly dead stranded animals.

• Incidental takes in fishing activities.

• Animals taken by Native Americans for subsistence.

Indicator species include:

• Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina).

• California sea lion (Zalophus californianus).

• Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus).

• Ringed seal (Phoca hispida).

• Pilot whale (Globicephala melas).

• Harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).

• Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus).

• Pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps).

• Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

• Rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis).

• Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis).

• Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas).

• Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus).

• Polar bear (Ursus maritimus).

The NMMTB has samples from more than 45 species of marine mammals from more than 27 partners.