Aerial photographic surveys for bowhead whales were conducted near Point Barrow, Alaska, from 19 April to 6 June in 2011. Approximately 4,594 photographs containing 6,801 bowhead whale images were obtained (not accounting for resightings). The 2011 field season was very successful: we flew 36 out of 49 available days and conducted 49 flights in that time; we were grounded due to weather on 13 days. The longest period of time that we were grounded due to weather (low ceilings/fog) was three days. This occurred after the migration had slowed down, during a time when few whales passed the ice perches according to the ice-based visual survey. The 2011 migration was steady with several peaks (30 April, 4-5 May, 12 May), and then the migration rate slowed down considerably after 14 May. The photographs taken in 2011 are a significant contribution to the bowhead whale photographic catalogue. They will be used to calculate a population estimate that may be used for comparison with the 2011 ice-based estimate and will provide better precision in estimates of bowhead whale life-history parameters.

The Bowhead Whale Feeding Ecology Study (BOWFEST) was initiated in May 2007 through an Interagency Agreement between the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) (formerly Minerals Management Service (MMS)) and the National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML). This was a multi-disciplinary study involving oceanography, acoustics, tagging, stomach sampling and aerial surveys and included scientists from a wide range of institutions (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of Rhode Island (URI), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), University of Washington (UW), Oregon State University (OSU), North Slope Borough (NSB), and NMML. The data described and presented here are only from the aerial survey component of this larger study. The focus of the aerial survey was to document patterns and variability in the timing and locations of bowhead whales. Using a NOAA Twin Otter, scientists from NMML conducted aerial surveys from mid-August to mid-September during this five year study between years 2007-2011. Surveys were conducted in the BOWFEST study area (continental shelf waters between 157 degree W and 152 degree W and from the coastline to 72 degree N, with most of the effort concentrated between 157 degree W and 154 degree W and between the coastline and 71 degree 44'N).

The Bowhead Whale Feeding Ecology Study (BOWFEST) was initiated in May 2007 through an Interagency Agreement between the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) (formerly Minerals Management Service (MMS)) and the National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML). This was a multi-disciplinary study involving oceanography, acoustics, tagging, stomach sampling and aerial surveys and included scientists from a wide range of institutions (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of Rhode Island (URI), University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), University of Washington (UW), Oregon State University (OSU), North Slope Borough (NSB), and NMML. The data described and presented here are only from the aerial survey component of this larger study. The focus of the aerial survey was to document patterns and variability in the timing and locations of bowhead whales. Using a NOAA Twin Otter, scientists from NMML conducted aerial surveys from mid-August to mid-September during this five year study between years 2007-2011. Surveys were conducted in the BOWFEST study area (continental shelf waters between 157 degree W and 152 degree W and from the coastline to 72 degree N, with most of the effort concentrated between 157 degree W and 154 degree W and between the coastline and 71 degree 44'N).

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has conducted aerial counts of Cook Inlet beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from 1993 to 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022. Nearly all counts were conducted during the month of June. The routine nature of these counts and the consistency in research protocol lend themselves to inter-annual trend analyses. Beginning in 2005, an aerial survey was added during the month of August to document calving groups within the upper Inlet (north of East and West Foreland). Research protocol has been based on paired observers on the shoreward side of the aircraft and a single observer and computer operator on the offshore side independently searching for marine mammals. Data on environmental conditions, time, location, species, and inclinometer angle were collected for each sighting. The counting protocol included multiple passes near each beluga group while simultaneously collecting video footage. The counting system and observer performance has been tested through paired, independent observational effort. Information about the Cook Inlet beluga whale projects conducted at NOAA can be found here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/beluga-whale#science.

The National Marine Mammal Laboratory conducted aerial surveys to monitor the abundance and distribution of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska. This database contains the counts of beluga whale groups made by the aerial observers during surveys from 1993-2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2022. Counts occurred concurrent with video collection during each pass near a beluga group.

As a part of NMFS management of the endangered beluga whale population in Cook Inlet, Alaska, aerial surveys have been conducted during summer since 1993 to monitor their distribution and abundance. When beluga whale groups are found, observers make counts from the bubble windows while one observer records the group with a video camera. The video has been used to count the number of animals in the group to correct for missed animals in the observer counts. In 1996, a second video camera was added; the first video camera had a lens set at a wide angle to view the entire beluga group while the second video camera was zoomed to approximately 10x to magnify a subsample of individual whales in the group. The zoomed video has been used to examine color ratios of white adults relative to smaller and darker juveniles and calves and correct for those individuals missed due to their size or coloration. In 2005, a computer program was designed to digitize the process for analyzing the video, which had been conducted manually prior to that year. The program allows an analyst to digitally mark and number each individual whale image, track it across the screen, and measure relative whale size. The dataset described here includes the data from the years that video was analyzed using the computer program, 2005-2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), previously Bureau of Land Management, has funded fall bowhead whale aerial surveys in this area each year since 1978, using a repeatable protocol from 1982 to the present. Bowhead monitoring by MMS Environmental Studies Section, Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region, normally overlaps the September-October "open-water" season when offshore drilling and geophysical exploration are feasible and when the fall subsistence hunt for bowhead whales takes place near Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, and Barrow, Alaska. The primary survey aircraft was a de Havilland Twin Otter Series 300. The aircraft was equipped with three medium-size bubble windows that afforded complete viewing of the track-line. Geographic positions of the aircraft were logged onto a laptop computer from a Global Navigation System (1982-1991) or a Global Positioning System (1992-2000). Prior to 1992, many surveys in Block 12 (See Browse Graphic) were conducted from a Grumman Turbo Goose Model G21G. All bowhead (and beluga) whales observed were recorded, along with incidental sightings of other marine mammals. Particular emphasis was placed on regional surveys to assess large-area shifts in the migration pathway of bowhead whales and on the coordination of effort and management of data necessary to support seasonal offshore-drilling and seismic-exploration regulations. The selection of survey blocks to be flown on a given day was nonrandom, based primarily on criteria such as observed and predicted weather conditions over the study area and offshore oil-industry activities. Otherwise, the project attempted to distribute effort fairly evenly east-to-west across the entire study area. Aerial coverage favored inshore survey blocks (See Browse Graphic), since bowheads were rarely sighted north of these blocks in previous surveys (1979-1986). Surveys were flown at a target altitude of 458 m in order to maximize visibility and to minimize potential disturbance to marine mammals. Flights were normally aborted when cloud ceilings were consistently less than 305 m or the wind force was consistently above Beaufort 4. Daily flight patterns were based on sets of non-repeating transect grids computer-generated for each survey block. Transect grids were derived by dividing each survey block into sections 30 minutes of longitude across. One of the minute marks along the northern edge of each section was selected at random then connected by a straight line to a similarly selected endpoint along the southern edge of that same section. This procedure was followed for all sections of that survey block. These transect legs were then connected alternately at their northernmost or southernmost ends to produce one continuous flight grid within each survey block. Gridlines were occasionally lengthened to cover both an inshore block and the block north of it. Lines were occasionally truncated due to extended poor visibility or to avoid potential interference with subsistence whaling activities. For bowheads encountered "on transect", the aircraft sometimes circled for a brief (< 10 min) period to observe behavior, obtain better estimates of their numbers, and/or determine whether calves were present. Any new groups sighted when circling were recorded as "on search".

Since 1980, the Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory has been collecting photos of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Alaskan waters. Photo-identification is a useful method to gain insight into stock structure, life history, habitat use and movements. Some of the images were collected during humpback whale specific projects while others have been documented on an opportunistic basis. Photos have been collected within Southeast Alaska, along the Alaskan Peninsula, Kodiak Island, the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea sides of the Aleutian Chain, as well as, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), previously Bureau of Land Management, has funded fall bowhead whale aerial surveys in this area each year since 1978, using a repeatable protocol from 1982 to the present. Bowhead monitoring by MMS Environmental Studies Section, Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region, normally overlaps the September-October "open-water" season when offshore drilling and geophysical exploration are feasible and when the fall subsistence hunt for bowhead whales takes place near Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, and Barrow, Alaska. The primary survey aircraft was a de Havilland Twin Otter Series 300. The aircraft was equipped with three medium-size bubble windows that afforded complete viewing of the track-line. Geographic positions of the aircraft were logged onto a laptop computer from a Global Navigation System (1982-1991) or a Global Positioning System (1992-2000). Prior to 1992, many surveys in Block 12 (See Browse Graphic) were conducted from a Grumman Turbo Goose Model G21G. All bowhead (and beluga) whales observed were recorded, along with incidental sightings of other marine mammals. Particular emphasis was placed on regional surveys to assess large-area shifts in the migration pathway of bowhead whales and on the coordination of effort and management of data necessary to support seasonal offshore-drilling and seismic-exploration regulations. The selection of survey blocks to be flown on a given day was nonrandom, based primarily on criteria such as observed and predicted weather conditions over the study area and offshore oil-industry activities. Otherwise, the project attempted to distribute effort fairly evenly east-to-west across the entire study area. Aerial coverage favored inshore survey blocks (See Browse Graphic), since bowheads were rarely sighted north of these blocks in previous surveys (1979-1986). Surveys were flown at a target altitude of 458 m in order to maximize visibility and to minimize potential disturbance to marine mammals. Flights were normally aborted when cloud ceilings were consistently less than 305 m or the wind force was consistently above Beaufort 4. Daily flight patterns were based on sets of non-repeating transect grids computer-generated for each survey block. Transect grids were derived by dividing each survey block into sections 30 minutes of longitude across. One of the minute marks along the northern edge of each section was selected at random then connected by a straight line to a similarly selected endpoint along the southern edge of that same section. This procedure was followed for all sections of that survey block. These transect legs were then connected alternately at their northernmost or southernmost ends to produce one continuous flight grid within each survey block. Gridlines were occasionally lengthened to cover both an inshore block and the block north of it. Lines were occasionally truncated due to extended poor visibility or to avoid potential interference with subsistence whaling activities. For bowheads encountered "on transect", the aircraft sometimes circled for a brief (< 10 min) period to observe behavior, obtain better estimates of their numbers, and/or determine whether calves were present. Any new groups sighted when circling were recorded as "on search".

As a part of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) management of the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population, a database of opportunistic beluga whale sightings was compiled from reports made by the general public, aircraft patrols, wildlife surveys, and military and industry monitoring studies. Sightings are reported to NMFS Alaska Regional (AKR) office personnel either by voice- or e-mail. Sighting data are then transcribed and sent to the NMFS National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) for entry into the database. Data are first assessed for quality during transcription by NMFS AKR personnel. Secondary review and confirmation is undertaken by NMFS NMML personnel prior to entry of data into the Access Database.