Marine Mammal Laboratory

The Alaska Ecosystems Program conducts research on Steller sea lions and northern fur seals. Research projects are designed to assess the status of these species under the ESA and MMPA and to improve knowledge of their ecology and behavior.  In addition, research on these species is directed at gaining a better understanding of the role that these species play in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ecosystems in order to provide advice for management of human activites that may affect the conservation and recovery of these species. 

Program Leader: Tom Gelatt

Note:  The National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) has recently changed its name to "Marine Mammal Laboratory" (MML). Please be aware that the former name still exists on lower-tier pages which have been retained for historical context.
 

Recent Cruises & Projects

Dr. Tom Gelatt explains how NOAA Fisheries scientists are working to
protect and study threatened Steller sea lions.

Quarterly Reports

• Steller sea lion research coordination, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Steller sea lion surveys 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, NEW 2016
• Memorandum for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council
• Remote Cameras Increase Sightings of Marked Steller Sea Lions
• Remote Cameras Increase Sightings of Marked Steller Sea Lions
  
• Bogoslof Island Research: 2015
  
• Stable Isotope Models Predict Foraging Habitat of Northern Fur Seals in Alaska
  
• Flying Beneath the Clouds at the Edge of the World: the Use of an Unmanned Aircraft System to Survey the Endangered Steller Sea Lion in Western Alaska
  
• Below the Fog: Monitoring Endangered Steller Sea Lions in the Western Aleutian Islands
  
• Remote Observations: Studying Steller Sea Lions Year Round
  
• Demography of Northern Fur Seals on the Pribilof Islands
  
• Re-examining Habitat Segregation and Foraging Effort of Northern Fur Seals After 15 Years of Decline
  
• Estimating Steller Sea Lion Population Trends
  

Publications

• RUEDIG, E., C. DUNCAN, B. DICKERSON, M. WILLIAMS, T. GELATT, J. BELL, and T. E. JOHNSON. 2016. Fukushima derived radiocesium in subsistence-consumed northern fur seal and wild celery. J. Environ. Radioactiv. 152:1-7.   Online.
   
• LEFEBVRE, K. A., L. QUAKENBUSH, E. FRAME, K. B. HUNTINGTON, G. SHEFFIELD, R. STIMMELMAYR, A. BRYAN, P. KENDRICK, H. ZIEL, T. GOLDSTEIN, J. A. SNYDER, T. GELATT, F. GULLAND, B. DICKERSON, and V. GILL. 2016. Prevalence of algal toxins in Alaskan marine mammals foraging in a changing Arctic and subarctic environment. Harmful Algae 55:13-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2016.01.007  Online.
   
• CORTES-HINOJOSA, G., F. M. D. GULLAND, R. DELONG, T. GELATT, L. ARCHER, and J. F. X. WELLEHAN, Jr. 2016. A novel gammaherpesvirus in northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) is closely related to the California sea lion (Zalophus Californianus) carcinoma-associated otarine herpesvirus-1. J. Wildlife Diseases 52(1):88-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.7589/2015-03-060  Online.
   
• BROMS, K. M., M. B. HOOTEN, D. S. JOHNSON, R. ALTWEGG, and L. L. CONQUEST. 2016. Dynamic occupancy models for explicit colonization processes. Ecology 97(1):194-204. http://dx.doi.org/0.1890/15-0416.1  Online.
   
• BELONOVICH, O. A., S. V. FOMIN, V. N. BURKANOV, R. D. ANDREWS, and R. W. DAVIS. 2016. Foraging behavior of lactating northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) in the Commander Islands, Russia. Polar Biol. 39(2):357-363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1786-9  Online.
   
• BEKLEMISHEVA, V., P. PERELMAN, N. LEMSKAYA, A. KULEMZINA, A. PROSKURYAKOVA, V. BURKANOV, and A. GRAPHODATSKY. 2016. Refinement of the ancestral carnivore karyotype based on comparative chromosome painting of pinnipeds (Pinnipedia, Carnivora). Cytogenet. Genome Res. 148(2-3):105-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000446523  Online.
   
• BEKLEMISHEVA, V. R., P. L. PERELMAN, N. A. LEMSKAYA, A. I. KULEMZINA, A. A. PROSKURYAKOVA, V. N. BURKANOV, and A. S. GRAPHODATSKY. 2016. The ancestral carnivore karyotype as substantiated by comparative chromosome painting of three pinnipeds, the walrus, the Steller sea lion and the Baikal seal (Pinnipedia, Carnivora). PLoS One 11(1):15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147647  Online.
   
• MUTO, M. M., V. T. HELKER, R. P. ANGLISS, B. A. ALLEN, P. L. BOVENG, J. M. BREIWICK, M. F. CAMERON, P. J. CLAPHAM, S. P. DAHLE, M. E. DAHLHEIM, B. S. FADELY, M. C. FERGUSON, L. W. FRITZ, R. C. HOBBS, Y. V. IVASHCHENKO, A. S. KENNEDY, J. M. LONDON, S. A. MIZROCH, R. R. REAM, E. L. RICHMOND, K. E. W. SHELDEN, R. G. TOWELL, P. R. WADE, J. M. WAITE, and A. N. ZERBINI. 2016. Alaska marine mammal stock assessments, 2015. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-323, 300 p. (.pdf, 12 MB).  Online.
   
• Additional recent Alaska Ecosystems Program publications

Posters

• Severe Decline in Abundance on Steller Sea Lion Rookery at Medny Island (Commander Islands), Russia
  By:  NATASHA LASKINA, VLADIMIR BURKANOV, THOMAS GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 1.16 MB)   Online.
   
• Fur Seal Foraging Behavior Reflects Prey Stock Structure, Abundance, and Responses to Variable Oceanography and Storms
  By:  JEREMY T. STERLING, MIKE E. GOEBEL, SARA J. IVERSON, STAN KOTWICKI, NOEL A. PELLAND, ROLF R. REAM, ALAN M. SPRINGER
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 1.56 MB)   Online.
   
• Postpartum Period in the Steller Sea Lions of the Commander Islands: the Connection With Decline in Natality
  By:  SERGEY D. RYAZANOV, VLADIMIR N. BURKANOV, THOMAS S. GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 2.4 MB)   Online.
   
• Longline Fisheries and Their Possible Effect on Steller Sea Lions in the Russian Side of the Bering Sea
  By:  S. V. FOMIN, Y. B. ARTUKHIN, A. I. TESTIN, O. A. BELONOVICH, V. N. BURKANOV
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 2.02 MB)   Online.
   
• Alarming Results of the 2015 Steller Sea Lion Survey in Three Russian Far East Regions
  By:  VLADIMIR BURKANOV, NATASHA LASKINA, EVGENY MAMAEV, VIKTOR NIKULIN, SERGEY PHOMIN, SERGEY RYAZANOV, ANDREY TRETYAKOV, IVAN USATOV, VLADIMIR VERTYANKIN, THOMAS GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 1.59 MB)   Online.
   
• Slaty-backed Gulls as a Commensal at a Sympatric Rookery of Steller Sea Lions and Northern Fur Seals (Dolgaya Rock, Kuril Islands)
  By:  OKSANA SAVENKO, MARIA GHAZALI SCHMALHAUSEN, VLADIMIR BURKANOV
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 1.81 MB)   Online.
   
• Steak for Breakfast and Calamari for Dinner – Does 'Surf & Turf' for Killer Whales Mean a Predator Pit for Steller Sea Lions?
  By:  PAUL R. WADE, JOHN W. DURBAN, RUSS D. ANDREWS, TOM GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 1.31 MB)   Online.
   
• Satellite Tagging, Remote Sensing, and Autonomous Vehicles Reveal Interactions Between Foraging and Migration Behaviors of a Top Marine Predator and the Environment in the North Pacific Ocean
  By:  NOEL PELLAND, JEREMY STERLING, DEVIN JOHNSON, ROLF REAM, ALAN SPRINGER, SARA IVERSON, NICHOLAS BOND, CHARLES ERIKSEN, CRAIG LEE
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2016
  (2016 poster, .pdf, 2.18 MB)   Online.
   
• Additional recent Alaska Ecosystems Program poster presentations