Marine Mammals | NOAA Fisheries

Seal and Sea Lion Week

Join us for a week-long celebration of seals and other pinnipeds and get the scoop on NOAA's seal conservation efforts.

March 11, 2024 - Feature Story ,

Alaska

New England/Mid-Atlantic

Pacific Islands

Southeast

West Coast

National

An animation showing several species of seals in their native habitats with the words "Seal & Sea Lion Week" across the top.

Seal & Sea Lion Week is March 11-15, 2024.

Deaths of Young Dolphin, Humpback Calf Highlight the Importance of Responsible Boating

In February 2024, NOAA Fisheries and partners responded to a dead spinner dolphin yearling and a dead humpback whale calf in Hawaiʻi. Examinations revealed their deaths were likely due to vessel strikes.

March 07, 2024 - Feature Story ,

Pacific Islands

A mother humpback whale swims beneath its calf to support it on the ocean surface as a researcher on a nearby boat leans over the railing holding a pole underwater to assess the condition of the call.

NOAA researchers with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback National Marine Sanctuary assess an injured humpback whale calf off of Maui. The calf had suspected vessel strike injuries to its tail. Credit: Pacific Whale Foundation (NOAA Fisheries Permit #24359)

Cetacean Genomes Project Team

Meet the scientists of the "Cetacean Genomes Project" which aims to facilitate generation of reference genomes of all cetacean species.

West Coast

International

Biden-Harris Administration Announces New NOAA-NASA Agreement to Advance North Atlantic Right Whale Conservation Technologies as Part of Investing In America Agenda

Inflation Reduction Act makes new funding available through NOAA Fisheries to conserve and recover endangered species.

March 04, 2024 - Media Release ,

New England/Mid-Atlantic

Southeast

National

North Atlantic right whale #3720 and calf were first spotted off Wassaw Island, Georgia, on January 19, 2021. NOAA Fisheries will partner with NASA and the private sector to develop satellite tags that improve whale detection and reduce the risk of vessel strikes. Credit: Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit #20556-01.

2024 Arctic (Pusa hispida hispida), Okhotsk (Pusa hispida ochotensis), Baltic (Pusa hispida botnica), and Ladoga (Pusa hispida ladogensis) Ringed Seal 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation

A 5-year review is a periodic analysis of a species’ status conducted to ensure that the listing classification of a species as threatened or endangered on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants is accurate.

February 29, 2024 - Program Review ,

Alaska

A.I. Sorts Public Photos to Show Recovering Pacific Humpback Whales Hit Climate Ceiling

Happywhale.com turns hundreds of thousands of whale photos into data.

February 27, 2024 - Feature Story ,

International

Photo showing tail fluke of humpback whale named "Frosty."

Photographs of humpback whale tails, identified through artificial intelligence-based image recognition much like facial recognition, allow researchers to track individual whales across oceans, revealing population growth recovering from industrial whaling — and more recently, decline from a major marine heatwave. This whale is known as “Frosty” CRC-12492, named for the snowman-shaped barnacle scars on the tail. Photo: Ted Cheeseman.

Recent Prescott Grants Supporting Whale Conservation Partners

Our marine mammal network partners are leveraging the Prescott Grant Program's competitive grants to improve their stranding response and investigation capabilities for whale conservation.

February 26, 2024 - Feature Story ,

National