Comprises data from surveys focused on killer whales with opportunistic data from other cetacean species; includes data describing encounters for photo-identifications, biopsy, and acoustic sampling. Data includes surveys conducted by CAEP/NMML, and also contributed data from Alaska Ecosystem Program/NMML, Southwest Fisheries Science Center and other collaborators. Surveys were conducted in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and western Gulf of Alaska, 2000 to the present.

This dataset is a compilation of line-transect data collected on surveys in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and western and central Gulf of Alaska, 2001 - 2010. All the surveys were conducted with similar methods using line-transect protocols, allowing effort to be quantified, but there were differences in transect design in some years (some surveys were systematic, some were not). Sighting information for all cetacean and at-sea pinniped species was collected. The database was compiled with the intent of including all surveys with sighting data on killer whales, in order to assess killer whale population biology in this region. Surveys included in this database are 2001 - 2007, 2009 and 2010 NMML killer whale surveys.

The North Pacific right whale (NPRW) was heavily hunted between the 17th and the 20th centuries. Protection was supposedly afforded by international treaties in the 1930s and 1940s, but the illegal capture of hundreds of individuals by the Soviet Union, primarily in the 1960s drastically impacted the recovery of the species. Currently, only a small remnant of this population (estimated at approximately 30 individuals) inhabits the southeastern Bering Sea (SEBS). There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that the middle shelf domain constitutes the primary habitat of NPRWs in the SEBS during the summer. Despite substantial observation effort from various sources in some other areas, the only region in the Bering Sea where NPRWs have been consistently seen is the middle shelf. Vessel surveys were conducted in the summers of 2007 - 2011 in the EBS mostly within the NPRW critical habitat boundary (located on the middle shelf of the SEBS). A total of eight NPRW individuals were identified from photographs taken during the survey.

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.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has conducted shore-based counts of the Eastern North Pacific stock of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) 26 years from 1967 to 2008 at Granite Canyon (or nearby at Yankee Point), 13 km south of Carmel, in central California. Convenient access to the Granite Canyon research station (owned by NOAA but operated by the State of California Department of Fish and Game) and the narrowness of the whales' migratory corridor in this area permitted an efficient counting process at this site. All counts were conducted during the 2-month southbound migration (mid-December to late February) rather than the protracted 3-month northbound migration. The routine nature of these counts and the consistency in research protocol lend themselves to inter-annual trend analyses. Research protocol has been based on single observers independently searching for whales and recording data on environmental conditions and the time, location, count, and direction of travel for each sighting. The counting system and observer performance has been tested through paired, independent observational effort; aerial surveys; thermal imagery; radio-tagging of whales; systematic observations through high-powered (25x) binoculars; and teams of observers tracking specific whale pods through the viewing area.

As part of the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP) funded by the North Pacific Research Board (http://www.nprb.org/bering-sea-project), cetacean surveys were conducted to describe distribution and estimate abundance on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. Three marine mammal observers conducted visual surveys along transect lines sampled during the Alaska Fisheries Science Center walleye pollock assessment survey in June and July of 2008 and 2010. We collected sighting data for all cetaceans, and produced abundance estimates for the following species: humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), minke whale (B. acutorostrata), Dalls (Phocoenoides dalli) and harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).

As part of the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP) funded by the North Pacific Research Board (http://www.nprb.org/bering-sea-project), cetacean surveys were conducted to describe distribution and estimate abundance on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. Three marine mammal observers conducted visual surveys along transect lines sampled during the Alaska Fisheries Science Center walleye pollock assessment survey in June and July of 2008 and 2010. We collected sighting data for all cetaceans, and produced abundance estimates for the following species: humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), minke whale (B. acutorostrata), Dalls (Phocoenoides dalli) and harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).

This dataset is a compilation of line-transect data collected on surveys in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and western and central Gulf of Alaska, 2001 - 2010. All the surveys were conducted with similar methods using line-transect protocols, allowing effort to be quantified, but there were differences in transect design in some years (some surveys were systematic, some were not). Sighting information for all cetacean and at-sea pinniped species was collected. The database was compiled with the intent of including all surveys with sighting data on killer whales, in order to assess killer whale population biology in this region. Surveys included in this database are 2001 - 2007, 2009 and 2010 NMML killer whale surveys.

The eastern population of the North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) is the most endangered stock of whales in the world, with recent abundance estimates indicating a population size of approximately 30 animals. Photo-identification of the naturally occurring callosity patterns on the chin, rostrum, lips and post blowhole, and the lip and fluke trailing edge crenulations together represent a nonintrusive technique for obtaining information on their life history parameters, distribution and movements, stock structure, health assessment, and population size. As part of a study funded by the Minerals Management Service and North Pacific Research Board, a North Pacific right whale photo-identification catalog has been established using sighting data recorded since the late 1970s by various dedicated surveys and opportunistic sighting platforms. Date, time, position, photographer, picture quality and notes are documented for each of the approximately 1,780 photographs in the catalog. Within the catalog, there are 18 individual animals with both a high-quality left and right side oblique photograph or a high-quality aerial photograph of the head and dorsal surface; this should be considered the conservative minimum number of individuals catalogued. There are nine other animals with a high quality left or right oblique photograph, but not both. There are eight additional animals with the full suite of required photographs, but the images are of poor quality and cannot be reliably matched. Seven individuals were seen between years (over a period of 11 years), and one of those whales was seen in five separate years within that same period. Data from this catalog have been used to calculate the first abundance estimates for the population. Additionally, the first known match between high and low latitudes (the Bering Sea and Hawaii) was discovered in the catalog. Tracking the within- and between-year sighting histories of photo-identified individuals over decades broadens our knowledge of how these animals use their habitat, and can significantly assist the conservation and management of the species.

The southern residents face several well-documented external threats. However, the population might also be subject to internal factors that limit population growth, including a reduction in fitness due to inbreeding. Understanding how inbreeding affects individual fitness and thus the health status of the population is critical for evaluating the relative influence of other factors on southern resident recovery. Assessing the risk of inbreeding depression – specifically called for in the NMFS recovery plan – is important for conducting accurate Population Viability Analyses and correctly understanding the urgency of recovery efforts. Here, we propose using genomic methods to evaluate inbreeding and inbreeding depression in the southern resident population and a comparable but healthier Alaskan resident population. Measures of inbreeding will serve as an important health marker, supporting the integration of individual metrics aimed at understanding population performance. Measures of inbreeding can be obtained directly by estimating variation at millions of DNA markers in an individual’s genome. Complete genomic sequences for 100 southern and 50 Alaska residents will be collected in collaboration with the genomics company BGI. Inbreeding values for each individual will be obtained using genome wide measures of homozygosity and relatedness. We will then combine measured of inbreeding with data on individual fitness, to evaluate whether inbreeding leads to inbreeding depression. Generalized additive models will be used to determine whether survivorship, fecundity and size-at-age is influenced by different levels of inbreeding. Using this data, we will measure the degree of current and predicted future of inbreeding in the southern residents and compare this risk with the Alaska residents that have experienced consistent population growth. We will then evaluate whether inbreeding depression explains individual variance in fitness, and estimate its influence on the status of southern residents, using Population Viability Analyses. Microsatellite, SNP, and mtDNA sequence data from southern resident killer whales.