This collaborative study between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service, Sea Mammal Research Unit, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada investigated the relationship between diet and population trends of Steller sea lions in the Aleutian Islands. During this study, data from a total of 3,118 samples collected throughout the year in the Aleutian Islands from 1990-2012 (including 399 samples collected during this study at 14 sites (NPRB #1114: 345 in March 2012 and 54 in summer 2012) and 305 samples collected during NPRB #720) were analyzed to characterize the spatial, temporal and seasonal variation in sea lion diet and examined the relationship between population trend and diet diversity in both seasons and throughout the year. Additionally, a combination of dietary information methods, including traditional hard part identification and a molecular methodology developed by Tollit et al. (2009) that found DNA extracted from the soft scat of wild Steller sea lions, were used to sub-sample scat samples to identify prey occurrences that were undetected by hard parts alone.

These data were used by Kuhn et al. (2015) to investigate how conclusions about predator-prey relationships change with increasing temporal disparity between predator tracking periods and prey surveys. Northern fur seals (n = 20) from St. Paul Island (Alaska, USA) were equipped with satellite tracking transmitters and time-depth recorders from July to October 2006. Fur seal dive and movement metrics were examined in relation to the relative abundance of the fur seals’ primary prey, walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus), reported from the annual eastern Bering Sea groundfish survey. Relationships between foraging behavior metrics and prey abundance were examined within the Bering shelf survey grid cells at three time scales: within 2 weeks of the prey survey, within 1 month, and over the northern fur seal reproductive season (>4 months).

The Marine Mammal Laboratory (MML) Food Habits Reference Collection, containing over 1000 specimens of cephalopod beaks and fish bones and otoliths, is used to identify undigested prey remains found in scats or stomachs of stranded or incidentally taken pinnipeds and cetaceans. Marine mammal food habits data are used in conjunction with satellite telemetry and dive records to better understand foraging behavior and prey selection. This information is critical to understanding how commercial fisheries and changing environmental conditions impact these animals.

The Food Habits Collection includes fish and cephalopod species that are commonly consumed by pinnipeds along the Pacific Northwest coast and in Alaska, but we are in the process of adding other potential prey species and specimens to fill unrepresented size ranges. We are very appreciative of NMFS/AFSC/RACE fisheries biologists, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the University of Washington for their ongoing donations to our collection. With the help and cooperation of researchers such as these, our collection continues to grow in size and usefulness.

The Marine Mammal Food Habits Reference Collection is an important research tool within NMML, and is also used several times a year by graduate students and researchers from universities, government agencies and private institutions. These collections have contributed to food habits research on Magister armhook squid, Northern fulmar, Newells shearwater, Hawaiian petrel, river otters and marine mammals. The collections are also used by archeologists to identify fish and mammal bones found in Native American middens from Alaska to Mexico.

The database is comprised of a table detailing specimens and associated data and measurements for fish and cephalopod soft tissue and hard parts contained within the reference collection.

Data sets used to support analysis published by O'Corry-Crowe et al (2014) Crossing to safety: Dispersal, colonization and mate choice in evolutionarily distinct populations of Steller sea lions, Eumetopias jubatus. Molecular Ecology 23(22): 5415-5434. Data include Steller sea lion genetic data obtained from samples collected from pups on natal rookeries. The genetic data are genotypes at 16 microsatellite loci and haplotypes at mtDNA, spatial data, and allelic and haplotypic frequencies.

This dataset contains information regarding the sighting and capture of Steller sea lions marked in Alaska from 1987 to 2014. Marks are seen and documented in a variety of ways; remote cameras, dedicated vessel- and land-based surveys, recaptures of Steller sea lions, aerial survey photographs, strandings, and opportunistic sightings sent in from the public.

This database contains information on pup production estimates, adult male counts and harvests (commercial and subsistence) for the Pribilof Islands of St. Paul and St. George. Methodology for the data collection for adult males and animals harvested has been consistent over time. The estimation of pup production has gone through an evolution of methodology that is indicated in the database. Cite dataset as: Alaska Ecosystems Program. 2019. Northern fur seal pup production, adult male counts and harvest data for the Pribilof Islands, Alaska 1909 to Present. NOAA Fisheries Open Data Portal: https://noaa-fisheries-afsc.data.socrata.com/Ecosystem-Science/Northern-fur-seal-pup-production-adult-male-counts/c983-ijgd

This dataset contains crab data from a field survey of Chionoecetes bairdi and C. opilio collected at six designated index sites in the Bering Sea during the 2014 NOAA/NMFS/AFSC/RACE crab-groundfish bottom trawl survey of the eastern Bering Sea. Each of the six index sites were made up of approximately 10 survey stations and chosen based on historical incidences of the parasite Hematodinium sp., the causative agent of Bitter Crab Syndrome (BCS). Crab collected at each survey station were preserved and tested in a laboratory with a DNA test for the presence of Hematodinium sp. parasite DNA to evaluate any changes in intensity of disease within the index sites that may provide information as to how the disease is moving or changing within EBS crab populations. The data includes index site, species, crab morphometrics, Hematodinium sp. parasite presence/absence based on PCR assay results.

Information on the distribution and relative abundance of nearshore fishes from beach seine hauls in Alaska is now available to managers as an online Fish Atlas. The atlas is dynamic and will continually be updated as more data becomes available. Presently, the atlas includes distribution and habitat use information for nearshore fishes in southeastern Alaska, Prince William Sound, the Aleutian Islands, and the Arctic. This online database has been designed to integrate with the spatially explicit, Alaska ShoreZone web enabled GIS platform. Further details about the database design can be found on Auke Bay Laboratories public website.

Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) runs in rivers that flow into the eastern Bering Sea have been inconsistent and at times very weak. Low returns of chinook (O. tshawytscha) and chum (O. keta) salmon to the Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, and Norton Sound areas of Alaska prompted the state of Alaska to restrict commercial and subsistence fisheries during 2000 and declare the region a fisheries disaster area. Weak salmon returns to these river systems follow several years of low sockeye (O. nerka) salmon returns to Bristol Bay, which was declared a fisheries disaster region during 1998 by both the State of Alaska and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Causes of the poor salmon returns to these river systems are not known however, the regional-scale decline of these stocks indicates that the marine environment may play a critical role. Ocean conditions, particularly in the first few months after the salmon leave fresh water, are known to significantly affect salmon survival (Holtby et al. 1990; Friedland et al. 1996; Beamish and Mahnken 2001). Mechanisms affecting marine survival of the eastern Bering Sea salmon stocks are unknown, principally due to the lack of marine life history information on western Alaska salmon. To improve understanding of the marine life-history stage of salmon in the Bering Sea, the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) began an internationally coordinated research program on salmon in the Bering Sea called the Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS) (NPAFC 2001). As part of BASIS, scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Ocean Carrying Capacity (OCC) program conducted a fall survey on the eastern Bering Sea shelf to provide key ecological data for eastern Bering Sea salmon stocks during their juvenile life-history stage. The goal of the OCC/BASIS salmon research cruise was to understand mechanisms underlying the effects of environment on distribution, migration, and growth of juvenile salmon on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. Primary objectives of BASIS include: 1) to determine the extent of offshore migrations of juvenile salmon from rivers draining into the eastern Bering Sea, 2) to describe the physical environment of the eastern and northeastern Bering Sea shelf occupied by juvenile salmon, and 3) to collect biological information on other ecologically important species. Summaries of previous Bering Sea juvenile salmon research cruises can be found in Farley et al. (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005).

The spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi, formerly Squalus acanthias, Ebert et al. 2010) is a small, long-lived and slow-growing shark, which is vulnerable to overfishing. Current methods for aging spiny dogfish are based on reading annuli from dorsal fin spines, which erode and may break. For the past 30 years, scientists have used an exponential relationship between the diameter of the spine and the number of annuli to estimate the number of missing annuli. Coupled with between-reader imprecision (CV = 19%), errors in estimation of worn annuli introduce uncertainty and bias into the aging process, resulting in large confidence intervals and imprecise growth, mortality, and recruitment estimates necessary for stock assessments. Using spines and vertebrae collected from spiny dogfish in the Gulf of Alaska, we aged the spines using conventional methods and vertebrae using the vertebral method. Data presented here includes the sample collection information, raw spine and vertebrae age read data and final annuli counts calculated from the multiple reads. This project was funded by NPRB and was a collaborative work between: AFSC age and growth lab, WA Dept Fish and Wildlife, NWFSC age and growth lab, Dr. Walter Bubley and UAF, and Bechtol Research