The Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program (CAEP) is responsible for conducting studies to assess the status of cetaceans in Alaskan waters under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Major CAEP projects have included studies of North Pacific right whales, bowhead whales, gray whales, humpback whales, beluga whales, killer whales, Dall’s porpoise, and harbor porpoise. Other species included in CAEP research are blue whales, fin whales, sei whales, minke whales, sperm whales, beaked whales (including Cuvier’s, Baird’s, and Stejneger’s), and Pacific white-sided dolphins. Most research projects involve determination of abundance, trends, stock structure, habitat use, and feeding ecology using aerial and vessel surveys, shore-based counts, acoustic studies, radio and satellite tagging, genetic studies, photo-identification of individual animals, and opportunistic sighting data. CAEP uses the results of these stock assessments to provide the scientific advice necessary to manage cetaceans in Alaskan waters. CAEP scientists also collaborate widely with other national and international research groups working on cetaceans across the North Pacific and, sometimes, in other oceans.
Program Leader: Phillip Clapham
Recent Reports, Publications, and Posters
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Gray Whale Counts in January 2008
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Bowhead Whale Feeding Ecology Study
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Satellite Tagging Humpbacks in the South Pacific: Windows on the Whales' World
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Beluga Whales in Northern Cook Inlet, Alaska, August 2007
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Cook Inlet Beluga Survey, June 2007
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Gray Whale Census in 2006/07
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Beluga Conference in Valencia, Spain
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Winter Whale Surveys in Kodiak, Alaska
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Decline of Beluga Whales in Cook Inlet
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Satellite Telemetry Describes First Migratory Movement of South Pacific Humpback Whales to Their Feeding Grounds
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Field Work (Granite Canyon gray whale census)
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Disappearing Right Whales and the Secrets of Soviet Whaling
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August 2006 Survey of Belugas in Cook Inlet
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International Whaling Commission Comprehensive Assessment of Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales
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Kachemak Bay Science Conference
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Bowhead Whale Workshop II
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Humpback Whale Studies (SPLASH Project) in Baja California
- BWASP - Bowhead Whale Aerial Survey Projects 2008 Preliminary Data
- EBERHARDT, L. L., J. M. BREIWICK, and D. P. DeMASTER.
2008. Analyzing population growth curves. Oikos 117:1240-1246.
- MOORE, S. E., and H. P. HUNTINGTON.
2008. Arctic marine mammals and climate change: Impacts and resilience. Ecol. Appl. 18(2) Suppl.:S157-S165.
- MOORE, S. E.
2008. Marine mammals as ecosystem sentinels. J. Mammal. 89(3):534-540.
- JOHNSON, D. S., J. M. LONDON, M. A. LEA, and J. W. DURBAN.
2008. Continuous-time correlated random walk model for animal telemetry data. Ecology 89(5):1208-1215.
- HUNTINGTON, H. P., and S. E. MOORE.
2008. Assessing the impacts of climate change on Arctic marine mammals. Ecol. Appl. 18(2) Suppl.:S1-S2.
- DAHLHEIM, M. E., A. SCHULMAN-JANIGER, N. BLACK, R. TERNULLO, D. ELLIFRIT, and K. C. BALCOMB, III.
2008. Eastern temperate North Pacific offshore killer whales (Orcinus orca): Occurrence, movements, and insights into feeding ecology. Mar. Mammal Sci. 24(3):719-729.
- CLAPHAM, P. J., A. AGUILAR, and L. T. HATCH.
2008. Determining spatial and temporal scales for management: Lessons from whaling. Mar. Mammal Sci. 24(1):183-201.
- FRIDAY, N. A., T. D. SMITH, P. T. STEVICK, J. ALLEN, and T. FERNALD.
2008. Balancing bias and precision in capture-recapture estimates of abundance. Mar. Mammal Sci. 24(2):253-275.
- RUGH, D., J. BREIWICK, M. MUTO. R. HOBBS, K. SHELDEN, C. D'VINCENT, I. M. LARSEN, S. REIF, S. MAHER, and S. NILSON.
2008. Report of the 2006-2007 census of the eastern North Pacific stock of gray whales. AFSC Processed Rep. 2008-03, 157 p. Alaska Fish. Sci. Cent., NOAA, Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle WA 98115. (.pdf, 1 MB). Online.
- DAWSON, S., P. WADE, E. SLOOTEN, and J. BARLOW.
2008. Design and field methods for sighting surveys of cetaceans in coastal and riverine habitats. Mammal Rev. 38(1):19-49.
- FRITZ, L., M. LYNN, E. KUNISCH, and K. SWEENEY.
2008. Aerial, ship, and land-based surveys of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in Alaska, June and July 2005-2007. U. S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo., NMFS-AFSC-183, 70 p. (.pdf, 4.73 MB). Online.
- ANGLISS, R. P., and R. B. OUTLAW.
2008. Alaska marine mammal stock assessments, 2007. U. S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo., NMFS-AFSC-180, 252 p. (.pdf, 11 MB) Online.
- Additional recent Cetacean Assessment & Ecology Program publications
- Bowhead Whale Feeding Behavior as Evidenced in Aerial Photography
By: JULIE A. MOCKLIN, DAVID J. RUGH, SUE E. MOORE, KENNETH J. RAEDEKE, ROBYN P. ANGLISS, WILLIAM R. KOSKI
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 559KB) Online.
- Cetacean Habitats and Behavior Offshore Northwestern Alaska: Comparisons Across Two Decades
By: SUE E. MOORE, J. C. "CRAIG" GEORGE, CARIN J. ASHJIAN
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 5.38MB) Online.
- Aerial Surveys of Bowhead Whales in the Vicinity of Barrow, Alaska, August-September 2007
By: KIMBERLY T. GOETZ, DAVID J. RUGH, JULIE A. MOCKLIN
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 2.4MB) Online.
- Distribution and Movements of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the North Pacific Ocean
By: SALLY A. MIZROCH, DALE W. RICE
Conference: Biology of Marine Mammals 17th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, Cape Town, South Africa, Nov/Dec 2007
(2007 poster, .pdf, 6.58MB) Online.
- Cook Inlet Beluga Population: Failure to Thrive?
By: RODERICK HOBBS, KIM SHELDEN, KIMBERLY GOETZ, CHRISTY SIMS, DAVID RUGH, DAVE HERMAN
Conference: International Workshop on Beluga Whale Research, Husbandry and Management... (1st), Valencia, Spain, Mar 2007
(2007 poster, .pdf, 1.46MB) Online.
- Using Advanced Techniques to Determine Age Categories of Belugas
By: CHRISTY SIMS, RODERICK HOBBS, KIMBERLY GOETZ, DAVID RUGH
Conference: International Workshop on Beluga Whale Research, Husbandry and Management... (1st), Valencia, Spain, Mar 2007
(2007 poster, .pdf, 2.4MB) Online.
- Dolphin & Porpoise Assemblages Observed Near Carmel, California, Winters 1967-2002
By: K. E. W. SHELDEN, D. J. RUGH, M. E. DAHLHEIM, B. A. MAHONEY
Conference: Biology of Marine Mammals 16th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, San Diego, CA, Dec 2005
(2005 poster, .pdf, 1.65MB) Online.
- Discrepancies in Sighting Data During Shore-based Counts of Gray Whales
By: DAVID RUGH, MARCIA MUTO, ROD HOBBS, JIM LERCZAK
Conference: Biology of Marine Mammals 16th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, San Diego, CA, Dec 2005
(2005 poster, .pdf, 1.82MB) Online.
- Identification of a Summering Ground of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean
By: ALEXANDER H. ZERBINI, A. ANDRIOLO, M. P. HEIDE-JØRGENSEN, J. L. PIZZORNO, Y. G. MAIA, G. R. VanBLARICOM, D. P. DeMASTER, P. C. SIMÕES-LOPES, S. MOREIRA, C. BETHLEM
Conference: Biology of Marine Mammals 16th Biennial Conf., Society for Marine Mammalogy, San Diego, CA, Dec 2005
(2005 poster, .pdf, 980KB) Online.
- Listening for Endangered Whales Offshore Alaska
By: SUE E. MOORE, KATHLEEN M. STAFFORD, DAVID K. MELLINGER, JOHN A. HILDEBRAND
Conference: GLOBEC Intl. Symposium on Climate Variability & Sub-Arctic Marine Ecosystems, Victoria, B.C., May 2005
(2005 poster, .pdf, 1.66MB) Online.
- Using Gray Whales to Track Climate Change in the Alaskan Arctic
By: SUE E. MOORE, JACQUELINE M. GREBMEIER
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2004
(2004 poster, .pdf, 251KB) Online.
- Additional recent Cetacean Assessment & Ecology Program poster presentations