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  • Biomonitoring of marine mammals as part of the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP)

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Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) Environmental and Fisheries Sciences EFS - Environmental Chemistry

Information

Project
Marine Mammal Biomonitoring
Title
Biomonitoring of marine mammals as part of the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP)
Description
In 1992, the Marine Mammal Protection Act established the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (Title IV) which operates in support of the Recovered Protected Species goal of NMFS’s Strategic Plan. The Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) is the NMFS lead for the biomonitoring components and quality assurance of chemical analyses for the MMHSRP. Information generated by this activity addresses deficiencies in data quality and quantity on the levels of toxic chemical contaminants in marine mammals and their prey, refines methods and approaches for understanding linkages between exposure and specific biological effects and measures, and improves the dissemination of the information to constituents and resource managers. Furthermore, these data will provide a measure of the quality of marine mammal habitats.

Various analytical methods developed at the NWFSC will be used for the following marine mammal projects: integrated assessment studies of contaminants and other chemical tracers to assess feeding ecology or population health; monitoring of contaminants from stranded animals in support of studies and from species for which few data exist; continued investigations of potential relationships between contaminant exposure and population effects; participation in Interlaboratory Comparison Exercises conducted by National Institute of Standards and Technology and other similar entities comparing analytical results for chemical tracers; and development of quality control materials and quality assurance criteria for new analytical methods as they are developed as part of our Quality Assurance Program. The results of the chemical tracer analyses will be summarized in a report that will be sent to the Office of Protected Resources by the 4th quarter of FY18.

Research Themes

Habitats to support sustainable fisheries and recovered populations
Healthy oceans, coastal waters, and riverine habitats provide the foundation for aquatic resources used by a diversity of species and society. Protecting marine, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems that support these species relies on science to link habitat condition/processes and the biological effects of restoration actions. The NWFSC provides the habitat science behind many management actions taken by NOAA Fisheries and other natural resource agencies to protect and recover aquatic ecosystems and living marine resources. The NWFSC also maintains a longstanding focus on toxic chemical contaminants, as a foundation for regional and national research on pollution threats to fisheries and protected resources.

Research Foci

Characterize the interaction of human use and habitat distribution, quantity and quality
The ability to define the state of an ecosystem requires insight into the natural processes within habitats, and how anthropogenic interactions with these processes can alter ecosystems and marine organisms. A wide diversity of human activities -- land use and water withdrawals, industrialization and dredging, fishing practices and climate change (e.g., ocean acidification) -- directly and indirectly impact critical freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats. To best manage west coast marine, estuarine and freshwater habitats in a sustainable fashion, it is necessary to map the spatial and temporal footprint of human impacts and review their potential biological impact on each species of interest. Measurement parameters will be developed to determine the full range of human impacts using spatial data and improved habitat classification.

Keywords

fatty acids
a carboxylic acid with a long unbranched aliphatic chain that can be saturated or unsaturated. In organisms, fatty acids are sources of fuel.
feeding ecology
The study of the structure of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem.
marine mammals
Includes whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, manatees, walruses, sea otters and polar bears
persistent organic pollutants
various classes of lipophilic, persistent chemical contaminants that were used as pesticides and industrial chemicals
stable isotopes
isotopes of an element that have the same atomic number, but different atomic mass
toxic effects
changes in physical, physiological, or biological processes caused by a substance in an organism

Products

Fatty Acids
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Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program Progress Report
Report to Teri Rowles, OPR, of progress of work carried out for this project under the mutually agreed Work Plan
POPs and lipid data
POPs, lipid, and possibly stable isotopes data as described under Data Inventory
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their metabolites
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Stable Isotopes
-

Taxa

Species Delphinapterus leucas
beluga, buluga, sea canary
Species Eschrichtius robustus
California gray whale, California ranger, California whale, devilfish, graesoe whale, gray whale, grayback, grey whale, hard head, mud digger, mussel digger, rip sack, scamperdown, scrag whale, summer whale
Species Megaptera novaeangliae
bunch whale, hump, humpback whale, hunch, hunchback whale
Species Monachus schauinslandi
common Hawaiian monk seal, Hawaiian monk seal
Species Orcinus orca
grampus, killer whale, killer-trasher, orca
Species Phocoena phocoena
bay porpoise, bucker, common porpoise, harbor porpoise, harbour porpoise, herring hog, hogfish
Species Pseudorca crassidens
blackfish, bubble, false killer whale
Species Tursiops truncatus
black porpoise, bottle-nosed dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, bottlenose porpoise, bottlenosed dolphin, common bottlenose dolphin
Species Zalophus californianus
California sea lion

People

Bernadita Anulacion
Staff
Catherine Sloan
Staff
Daryle Boyd
Staff
Denis Da Silva
Staff
Gina Ylitalo
Principal Investigator
Jennie Bolton
Staff
Jonelle Gates
Staff
Keri Baugh
Staff