Current Activities

Peter Boveng is the leader of the Polar Ecosystems Program of research on harbor seals and ice-associated (ringed, bearded, spotted, and ribbon) seals in Alaska. His primary research interests are in the estimation of fundamental quantities for population assessment, such as abundance, trends, and vital rates, and in satellite telemetry studies of movements, distribution, and foraging behavior. He is increasingly involved in collaborations with Alaska Native organizations in support of co-management agreements between those organizations and NOAA Fisheries for management of subsistence uses of harbor seals and ice seals.

Background

Peter joined the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in 1989, after a 3-year introduction at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center to research on a variety of pinniped and cetacean species along the U.S. west coast and the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. His field research on ice-associated polar seals has taken him from 78 degrees S to 71 degrees N latitude. After a sole focus on Antarctic seals and seabirds from 1989 to 1995, he has incorporated sub-arctic and arctic seals into a variety of on-going projects in both polar regions.

Peter received Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in biology from Montana State University and a B.A. from Cornell University. He served for 5 years as a member and rapporteur of the Ecosystem Monitoring Program of CCAMLR (the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources). He has been a principal investigator on research funded by NOAA, the National Science Foundation, the Minerals Management Service, and the North Pacific Research Board.