Science & Data

NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center and National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration conduct research on marine mammals off the coasts of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California.

NOAA Fisheries is not operating the Alaska Marine Mammal Observer Program due to a lack of available resources to fund additional observations of the southeast Alaska salmon drift gillnet fishery. We will reassess future activities as funding permits.

This summary will provide an update on NOAA-AFSC’s latest research on seal-vessel interactions jointly conducted with the National Park Service. This research builds on studies since 2002 on ice-associated harbor seals in Disenchantment Bay which have focused on proximate effects such as when, where, and at what distances vessels were causing a disturbance. By employing GPS satellite tracking (for both seals and ships), we aim to address broader population-level effects, and in particular to better understand how vessels entering glacial ice habitats may approach and alter the haul-out behavior of nursing pups, thus potentially increasing their energetic costs of thermoregulation in the water. There is concern that chronic disturbances could reduce body mass of pups at weaning and survival, and ultimately impact population stability.

Two NOAA Twin Otter aircraft were used to conduct the aerial surveys with the support of NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center.

Harbor seal research.

Harbor seal research.

We conduct research on Alaska harbor seal population abundance and trends, a priority for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center since the 1980s. We are required to conduct this research under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which established a national policy to prevent marine mammal populations from declining beyond the point where they cease to be significant functioning elements of the ecosystem. Our long-term datasets, combined with satellite telemetry studies of movement and behavior and new statistical techniques, enable us to estimate abundance and trends for the 12 recognized stocks of harbor seals in Alaska.

This project was designed to gather and synthesize information about the ecology of the seals within Iliamna Lake through a combination of aerial surveys, biological sampling, and ethnographic research.

Research into harbor seal population and behavior as a result of human and natural disturbances. Scientists assess the factors that influence the number and location of harbor seals hauling out on ice in Disenchantment Bay. They test the effects of a dynamic ice environment and the cruise ships that regularly move through this habitat.

2011 Alaska Marine Science Symposium poster on research concluding that seals do pup in the lake and some seals obviously over-winter there, but it seems unlikely that most seals do.