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  • Provide chemical tracer baseline data for marine mammals in support of the NMFS’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program

Breadcrumb

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

Information

Project
Marine Mammal Biomonitoring
Title
Provide chemical tracer baseline data for marine mammals in support of the NMFS’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program
Description
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) established the NMFS’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) (Title IV) in 1992. The MMHSRP operates in support of the Recovered Protected Species goal of National Marine Fisheries Services’ (NMFS) Strategic Plan. The Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) serves as the NMFS lead for the biomonitoring components and quality assurance of chemical tracer analyses of marine mammals and their prey for the Program. Information generated by these components addresses deficiencies in data quality and quantity on the levels of toxic chemicals in marine mammals, refines methods and approaches for understanding linkages between exposure and specific biological effects, and improves the dissemination of the information to constituents and resource managers. We work closely with Dr. Teri Rowles, the coordinator of the MMHSRP, to prioritize annually the activities for this program, with an emphasis on collecting chemical tracer data for marine mammal populations that occur in the California Current. The collection and dissemination of these data will increase understanding of the causes of disease and mortality events in marine mammals and provide high quality data to assess the status and trends in contaminant accumulation by U.S. marine mammal populations. Furthermore, these data will provide a measure of the quality of their habitat.

Data Sets

Research Themes

Research Foci

Keywords

None designated

Products

Progress Report for the Program Coordinator of the NMFS's Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program
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Taxa

None assigned

People

Bernadita Anulacion
Staff
Catherine Sloan
Staff
Daryle Boyd
Staff
Denis Da Silva
Staff
Gina Ylitalo
Program Manager
Irvin Schultz
Staff
Jennie Bolton
Staff
Jonelle Gates
Staff
Keri Baugh
Staff
Paul Chittaro
Staff