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.

The seabird food habits dataset contains information on the stomach contents from seabird specimens that were collected under salvage and scientific collection permits primarily by NMFS-certified fisheries observers deployed by the Pacific Islands Regional Office Observer Program to shallow and deep set pelagic longline fisheries operating in North Pacific waters and fisheries observers deployed by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Observer Program to groundfish demersal longline, pot, and trawl fisheries in waters off Alaska. The database includes Magnuson-Act protected data on the precise date and location where the specimen was collected and publicly available information on the stomach contents. Necropsy data were completed as a parallel program.

This database contains counts of Steller sea lion pups on rookeries in Alaska made between 1961 and 2019. Pup counts are conducted in June-July. Pups are counted from the ground (by walking along the rookery), from cliff-side overlooks, and from aerial images (vertical orientation). Pup counts conducted in late June-mid July are considered to represent a complete census of pups produced at each site during the year.

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.

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 Marine Mammal Laboratory (MML) Food Habits Reference Collection, containing over 1000 specimens of cephalopod beaks and fish bones and otoliths, is used to identify undigested prey remains found in scats or stomachs of stranded or incidentally taken pinnipeds and cetaceans. Marine mammal food habits data are used in conjunction with satellite telemetry and dive records to better understand foraging behavior and prey selection. This information is critical to understanding how commercial fisheries and changing environmental conditions impact these animals. The Food Habits Collection includes fish and cephalopod species that are commonly consumed by pinnipeds along the Pacific Northwest coast and in Alaska, but we are in the process of adding other potential prey species and specimens to fill unrepresented size ranges. We are very appreciative of NMFS/AFSC/RACE fisheries biologists, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the University of Washington for their ongoing donations to our collection. With the help and cooperation of researchers such as these, our collection continues to grow in size and usefulness. The Marine Mammal Food Habits Reference Collection is an important research tool within NMML, and is also used several times a year by graduate students and researchers from universities, government agencies and private institutions. These collections have contributed to food habits research on Magister armhook squid, Northern fulmar, Newells shearwater, Hawaiian petrel, river otters and marine mammals. The collections are also used by archeologists to identify fish and mammal bones found in Native American middens from Alaska to Mexico. The database is comprised of a table detailing specimens and associated data and measurements for fish and cephalopod soft tissue and hard parts contained within the reference collection.

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.

Relatively little is known of the diet and foraging behaviors of the four species of ice-associated seals (ribbon seal, bearded seal, spotted seal, and ringed seal) and harbor seals in Alaska. What is known comes largely from stomach contents of animals harvested during subsistence hunting near coastal communities. Diet and foraging ecology are likely highly sensitive to the availability of suitable habitats and sea ice conditions. They may be particularly vulnerable to climatic change and other disruptions from more direct anthropogenic effects such as offshore oil and gas development. Our ability to predict and manage for such impacts, however, is limited by our inadequate knowledge of seal ecology. This database contains diet data obtained by scat samples from seals across a variety of research projects. Scat samples were collected from ribbon and spotted seals in the pack ice in the Bering Sea during April, May, and June of 2007-2010, and 2014. The diet data in this database were obtained by analyzing otoliths from these scats. Scat samples have also been collected from harbor seals from Lake Iliamna in July-August 2015, and from the Aleutian Islands in September 2015. Diet data based on otoliths from these scats will also be recorded in this dataset.

Groundfish diet data collected during the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (NOAA/NMFS) groundfish surveys in the eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska regions from 1981 to the present. Groundfish diet data are also collected by fishery observers aboard commercial fishing vessels. Diet data is associated with corresponding haul location data. Diet data is described to the lowest practical taxon with the exception of fish and crab prey which a generally described to the species level. These data are in an Oracle 11g.

This database contains counts of adult and juvenile (non-pup) Steller sea lions on rookeries and haulouts in Alaska made between 1904 and 2019. Non-pup counts have been conducted throughout the year. Breeding season (June-mid July) non-pup counts are used for population trend analysis, while counts at other times are used for analyses of distribution and for other purposes. Non-pups are counted from the ground (by walking along the rookery), from cliff-side overlooks, and from aerial imagery (oblique and vertical orientation). Non-pup counts represent only a fraction of the total number of animals that may use a site. Sea lions haul-out less frequently in winter than in summer; thus, winter counts represent a smaller fraction of the total population than summer counts.