The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) initiated a long-term marking program of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus). This dataset contains initial capture and marking data for California sea lion pups at San Miguel Island, California and subsequent resighting of the marked animals throughout the time series. The data are used in mark-recapture analysis to estimate natality rates.

This dataset contains data from the capture and recapture of over 1500 male California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) from Washington between 1989-2006. The data fields include capture data such as time, location, weight, length, and girth for each animal captured. The dataset also includes records of resights of each animal from records collected from observers from California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The dataset also contains information from opportunistic captures of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in the same region.

California sea lions pup and breed at four of the nine Channel Islands in southern California. Since 1981, SWFSC MMTD has been conducting a diet study of sea lions at San Clemente Island (a small rookery) and San Nicolas Island (a large rookery). Information on the diet of sea lions is obtained from analyzing scats (i.e., fecal samples) and spewings (i.e., vomitus) collected at those two rookeries in January (winter), April (spring), July (summer), and October (autumn). Otoliths (a crystalline structure within the ear organ) from fish and beaks (mandibles composed of chitin) from cephalopods are recovered from the samples by washing each sample through sieves of varying mesh size. Otoliths and beaks, which are shaped and sized differently for each species of fish and cephalopod, respectively, are used to identify and enumerate fish, and cephalopods consumed by sea lions. Also, otoliths and beaks are measured for estimating size of prey being consumed by sea lions.

The migration and movement patterns of male California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) were investigated to determine the timing and distance of the migration. Adult male sea lions were instrumented with satellite-linked instruments in Puget Sound, Washington, before the southbound migration between 1995 and 2000. This dataset contains the ARGOS location data from the instrumented animals that subsequently was analyzed by the California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA).

From 1986 to 1999, The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) collected fecal samples and stomachs of male California sea lions from Washington. Scat samples were collected primarily from haulout sites in Puget Sound and a few were collected along the northern-outer Washington coast. Stomach content samples were collected from dead/stranded California sea lions throughout Washington. The data contains prey identifications and analyses of samples including prey species composition, frequency of occurrence, and size of prey.

The purpose of this project was to obtain data that are pertinent to assessing aspects of the distribution and foraging ecology of pinnipeds inhabiting the California Current. The California Current Ecosystem Program has attached satellite instruments and/or archival time-depth recorders on pinnipeds inhabiting waters off Washington, Oregon, and California to examine their haulout and at-sea spatial distribution, diving behaviors, and movement patterns at varying temporal scales. We aim to integrate telemetry data with aspects of their physiology and diet to assess sex/age-related differences by conspecifics or intra-specific differences among seals, sea lions, or fur seals in the California Current. Locations are calculated and provided by the Argos satellite system (http://www.argos-system.org/). Additional software are required to decode these data. Data are, generally, in the same format as originally delivered from Argos/CLS America and no quality assurance or quality control measures have been implemented.

From 1993 to 1999, The National Marine Mammal Laboratories' California Current Ecosystem Program (AFSC/NOAA) collected fecal samples from Steller sea lions in Washington to examine their diet. Most of the collections are from sites on the northern coast of Washington where Steller sea lions are most common and abundant.

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.

This database contains information on individual sea lions that were marked or handled from 1985-2018. Individuals were handled for various projects including vital rate, telemetry and health studies. Many of the animals were either flipper tagged or branded. Capture techniques vary including; hand-capture of pups, hoop netting and underwater captures of juveniles, dart-delivered sedation of adult females, and floating pen capture of sub-adult and adult males.

To better understand potential mechanisms underlying continued population declines of Steller sea lions in Alaska, we captured and deployed satellite-linked transmitters on 30 juvenile (ages 5-21 months) Steller sea lions during 2000-2003 to better understand habitat use, movements, and foraging behavior among the among the eastern Aleutian Islands.