Using skin samples from 777 unweaned pups collected in 9 different regions in WA state and British Columbia (WA Coastal Estuaries, WA North Coast, British Columbia, Boundary Bay, San Juan Islands, Smith/Minor Islands, Dungeness Spit, Hood Canal, South Puget Sound), the California Current Ecosystem Program at the Marine Mammal Laboratory/AFSC tested levels of genetic variation using mtDNA and 9 microsatellite loci. For both mtDNA and microsatellites we found the same four groupings. Previously, harbor seals were managed as two stocks: coastal and Inland waters. The data indicated that the harbor seals should be managed as four stocks: one on the Coast and three stocks in the Inland Waters. An additional 92 skin samples were collected opportunistically from non-pups. They have not yet been analyzed.

The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) initiated a long-term marking program of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) at San Miguel Island, California in 1975. A sample of up to 300 pups has been tagged in the foreflippers with various types and colors of tags each year between 1975 and the present. Resighting surveys for marked animals are conducted annually at summer breeding sites. Resightings are also obtained from the public when animals are observed on beaches or in fisheries. The data are used in mark-recapture models to estimate the age and sex specific vital parameters of the population and to describe age and sex specific reproductive behavior and seasonal movements of animals throughout their lives.

In May of 2001, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted an aerial photographic survey of the California coast and the offshore Channel Islands to obtain a minimum estimate of the population of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) living in California. The developed photographs were examined to count the number of harbor seals present and determine the location of each haul-out site by comparison to photos taken in previous surveys. This survey was successful in obtaining nearly complete coverage of all known haul-out areas. The 1995 survey was the last complete coverage. The total county for 2001 is 12,312 harbor seals. This result is the lowest ever recorded by CDFG for a combined count of the mainland and all offshore islands. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two surveys in 2002 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 16 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 19 to July 19, 2002. Total count for Survey 1 was 10,541 harbor seals, while that for Survey 2 was 8,374 harbor seals. Camera problems that produced un-readable film and poor weather conditions prevented a complete assessment by either survey. The lack of complete coverage by either Survey 1 or 2 limited the total number of harbor seals counted. This is especially true in areas where past surveys revealed high concentrations of seals such as the northern Channel Islands and Point Reyes - Sonoma County coast. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two aerial surveys in 2003 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 20 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 25 to July 20, 2003. Complete coverage was achieved in both surveys. This was the first time CDFG conducted these surveys using a digital imaging camera. Total count for Survey 1 was 17,415, while that for Survey 2 was 17,778 harbor seals.

In May of 2001, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted an aerial photographic survey of the California coast and the offshore Channel Islands to obtain a minimum estimate of the population of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) living in California. The developed photographs were examined to count the number of harbor seals present and determine the location of each haul-out site by comparison to photos taken in previous surveys. This survey was successful in obtaining nearly complete coverage of all known haul-out areas. The 1995 survey was the last complete coverage. The total county for 2001 is 12,312 harbor seals. This result is the lowest ever recorded by CDFG for a combined count of the mainland and all offshore islands. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two surveys in 2002 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 16 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 19 to July 19, 2002. Total count for Survey 1 was 10,541 harbor seals, while that for Survey 2 was 8,374 harbor seals. Camera problems that produced un-readable film and poor weather conditions prevented a complete assessment by either survey. The lack of complete coverage by either Survey 1 or 2 limited the total number of harbor seals counted. This is especially true in areas where past surveys revealed high concentrations of seals such as the northern Channel Islands and Point Reyes - Sonoma County coast. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two aerial surveys in 2003 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 20 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 25 to July 20, 2003. Complete coverage was achieved in both surveys. This was the first time CDFG conducted these surveys using a digital imaging camera. Total count for Survey 1 was 17,415, while that for Survey 2 was 17,778 harbor seals.

In May of 2001, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted an aerial photographic survey of the California coast and the offshore Channel Islands to obtain a minimum estimate of the population of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) living in California. The developed photographs were examined to count the number of harbor seals present and determine the location of each haul-out site by comparison to photos taken in previous surveys. This survey was successful in obtaining nearly complete coverage of all known haul-out areas. The 1995 survey was the last complete coverage. The total county for 2001 is 12,312 harbor seals. This result is the lowest ever recorded by CDFG for a combined count of the mainland and all offshore islands. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two surveys in 2002 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 16 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 19 to July 19, 2002. Total count for Survey 1 was 10,541 harbor seals, while that for Survey 2 was 8,374 harbor seals. Camera problems that produced un-readable film and poor weather conditions prevented a complete assessment by either survey. The lack of complete coverage by either Survey 1 or 2 limited the total number of harbor seals counted. This is especially true in areas where past surveys revealed high concentrations of seals such as the northern Channel Islands and Point Reyes - Sonoma County coast. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two aerial surveys in 2003 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 20 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 25 to July 20, 2003. Complete coverage was achieved in both surveys. This was the first time CDFG conducted these surveys using a digital imaging camera. Total count for Survey 1 was 17,415, while that for Survey 2 was 17,778 harbor seals.

The Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) in collaboration with Point Blue Conservation Science initiated long-term studies to determine pup abundance of the California Stock of northern fur seals. The California Stock is comprised of northern fur seals inhabiting San Miguel Island (and Castle Rock, and islet ~1 km northwest) and the Farallon Islands (specifically, Southeast Island) off California. Pup production is the sum of the numbers of live pups and dead pups for a given pupping season. This in turn is used as index to estimate total population abundance. Population abundance is vital to knowing the status of a particular stock or the entire species, as well as knowing what factors are driving population trends. Metadata and datasets corresponding to these studies are reported in Stock Assessment Reports (SAR) for the U.S. Congress and other stakeholders.

Vector datasets of CWHR range maps are one component of California Wildlife Habitat Relationships (CWHR), a comprehensive information system and predictive model for Californias wildlife. The CWHR System was developed to support habitat conservation and management, land use planning, impact assessment, education, and research involving terrestrial vertebrates in California. CWHR contains information on life history, management status, geographic distribution, and habitat relationships for wildlife species known to occur regularly in California. Range maps represent the maximum, current geographic extent of each species within California. They were originally delineated at a scale of 1:5,000,000 by species-level experts and have gradually been revised at a scale of 1:1,000,000. For more information about CWHR, visit the CWHR webpage (https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CWHR). The webpage provides links to download CWHR data and user documents such as a look up table of available range maps including species code, species name, and range map revision history; a full set of CWHR GIS data; .pdf files of each range map or species life history accounts; and a User Guide.

The difficulties associated with detecting population boundaries have long constrained the conservation and management of highly mobile marine species, especially for wide-ranging cetaceans such as killer whales (Orcinus orca). In this study, we use molecular genetic data to test a priori hypotheses about population subdivisions generated from a decade of killer whale surveys across the northern North Pacific. A total of 462 skin biopsies were collected from free-swimming killer whales from 1990 to 2010 between the northern Gulf of Alaska in the east and the Sea of Okhotsk in the west, representing both the piscivorous resident and the mammal-eating Biggs (or transient) killer whales. Geographic patterns of genetic differentiation were supported by significant regions of genetic discontinuity providing evidence of population structuring within both lineages, and corroborating direct observations of restricted movements of individual whales. In the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), population strata were largely delimited by major oceanographic boundaries for resident killer whales. In contrast, subdivisions among Biggs killer whales indicated multiple genetic clusters in the Eastern Aleutians and Bering Sea. The presence of sympatric genetic clusters within Biggs whales suggests the presence of isolating mechanisms other than geographic distance within this highly mobile top predator.

From 1994 to 2005, The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) collected fecal samples at the Umpqua River, Oregon and Columbia River, Oregon/Washington to examine the diet of Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). Scats were collected at various sites on the Umpqua River and at Desdemona sand spit on the Columbia River. Apart from describing the diet of Pacific harbor seals in these regions, of special interest was to determine the level of predation by these seals on endangered or threatened salmonids (e.g. cutthroat trout; Oncorhyncus clarkii).

The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) initiated a long-term marking program of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) at San Miguel Island, California in 1975. A sample of up to 300 pups has been tagged in the foreflippers with various types and colors of tags each year between 1975 and the present. Resighting surveys for marked animals are conducted annually at summer breeding sites. Resightings are also obtained from the public when animals are observed on beaches or in fisheries. The data are used in mark-recapture models to estimate the age and sex specific vital parameters of the population and to describe age and sex specific reproductive behavior and seasonal movements of animals throughout their lives.