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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Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Aerial Surveys, September-October 2008
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Passive Acoustic Monitoring
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PRIEST (Pacific Right Whale Evaluation Study) July-August, 2008
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Laser Morphometrics of Alaska Killer Whales
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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
- BWASP - Bowhead Whale Aerial Survey Projects 2008 Preliminary Data
- VASSILAKOS, D., A. NATOLI, M. DAHLHEIM, and A. R. HOELZEL.
2009. Balancing and directional selection at exon-2 of the MHC DQB1 locus among populations of odontocete cetaceans. Mol. Biol. Evol. 26:681-689.
- JEFFERSON, T. A., D. FERTL, J. BOLANOS-JIMENEZ, and A. N. ZERBINI.
2009. Distribution of common dolphins (Delphinus spp.) in the western Atlantic Ocean: a critical re-examination. Mar. Biol. 156:1109-1124.
- CARRETTA, J. V., K. A. FORNEY, M. S. LOWRY, J. BARLOW, J. BAKER, D. JOHNSTON, B. HANSON, M. M. MUTO, D. LYNCH, and L. CARSWELL.
2009. U.S. Pacific marine mammal stock assessments: 2008. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SWFSC-434, 316p. + appendices. (.pdf, 6.48 MB). Online.
- CLAPHAM, P., and Y. IVASHCHENKO.
2009. A whale of a deception. Mar. Fish. Rev. 71(1):44-52. (.pdf, 2.16MB). Online.
- CLAPHAM, P., Y. MIKHALEV, W. FRANKLIN, D. PATON, C. S. BAKER, Y. V. IVASHCHENKO, and R. L. BROWNELL, Jr.
2009. Catches of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, by the Soviet Union and other nations in the Southern Ocean, 1947-1973. Mar. Fish. Rev. 71(1):39-43. (.pdf, 437KB). Online.
- PINTO de Sá ALVES, L. C., A. ANDRIOLO, A. N. ZERBINI, J. L. ALTMAYER PIZZORNO, and P. J. CLAPHAM.
2009. Record of feeding by humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) in tropical waters off Brazil. Mar Mammal Sci. 25(2):416-419.
- BOERSMA, P. D., G. A. REBSTOCK, E. FRERE, and S. E. MOORE.
2009. Following the fish: Penguins and productivity in the South Atlantic. Ecol. Monogr. 79:59-76.
- PARSONS, K. M., K. C. BALCOMB III, J. K. B. FORD, and J. W. DURBAN.
2009. The social dynamics of southern resident killer whales and conservation implications for this endangered population. Anim. Behav. 77:963-971.
- DAHLHEIM, M. E., P. A. WHITE, and J. M. WAITE.
2009. Cetaceans of Southeast Alaska: Distribution and seasonal occurrence. J. Biogeogr. 36:410-426.
- ANGLISS, R. P., and B. M. ALLEN.
2009. Alaska marine mammal stock assessments, 2008. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-193, 258 p. (.pdf, 14.4MB). Online.
- LOWRY, L. F., K. J. FROST, A. ZERBINI, D. DeMASTER, and R. R. REEVES.
2008. Trend in aerial counts of beluga or white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in Bristol Bay, Alaska, 1993-2005. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 10:201-207.
- RUGH, D. J., W. R. KOSKI, J. C. GEORGE, and J. E. ZEH.
2008. Interyear re-identifications of bowhead whales during their spring migration past Point Barrow, Alaska, 1984-1994. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 10:195-20.
- Additional recent Cetacean Assessment & Ecology Program publications
- Bowhead Whale Feeding Ecology Study (BOWFEST) Aerial Surveys: a Comparison of Bowhead Whale Distribution and Survey Effort in 2007 and 2008 in the Vicinity of Barrow, Alaska
By: KIMBERLY T. GOETZ, DAVID J. RUGH, JULIE A. MOCKLIN
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2009
(2009 poster, .pdf, 8.32MB) Online.
- Cetacean Distribution in the Bering Sea in the Spring and Summer 2008
By: NANCY A. FRIDAY, ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, JANICE M. WAITE, AMY S. KENNEDY, BRENDA K. RONE, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, SUE E. MOORE
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2009
(2009 poster, .pdf, 3.66MB) Online.
- Occurrence of the Endangered North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) in the Bering Sea in 2008
By: ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, CATHERINE BERCHOK, AMY KENNEDY, BRENDA RONE, DAVE MELLINGER, SHARON NIEUKIRK, and SUE E. MOORE
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2009
(2009 poster, .pdf, 2.42MB) Online.
- Marine Mammal Occurrence in the Northeastern Chukchi Sea, Alaska –Summer 2008
By: LAURA MORSE, JANET CLARKE, DAVE RUGH
Conference: International American Cetacean Society Conference (11th), Monterey, CA, Nov 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 311KB) Online.
- Marine Mammal Occurrence in the Northeastern Chukchi Sea, Alaska - Comparison of Data from Autumn 1989-91 and Autumn 2008
By: JANET CLARKE, LAURA MORSE, DAVE RUGH
Conference: International American Cetacean Society Conference (11th), Monterey, CA, Nov 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 286KB) Online.
- BSIERP Project B66: Baleen Whale Broad-Scale Distribution
By: NANCY A. FRIDAY, ALEXANDRE N. ZERBINI, JANICE M. WAITE, AMY S. KENNEDY, BRENDA K. RONE, PHILLIP J. CLAPHAM, SUE E. MOORE
Conference: BEST-BSIERP Principal Investigator Meeting, Girdwood, AK, Oct 2008
(2008 poster, .pdf, 4.1MB) Online.
- 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.
- Additional recent Cetacean Assessment & Ecology Program poster presentations