SURVEY OF FEDERALLY-FUNDED MARINE 

MAMMAL RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION

Fiscal Year 2009

8 March 2013

U.S. Marine Mammal Commission

 4340 East-West Highway, Room 700

 Bethesda, MD 20814
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

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Cover photograph credits and thanks to M. Etpison (dugong), S. Cania (Hawaii monk seal), E. Lyman 

(humpback whale), I. Stirling (polar bear), R. Wolt (sea otter), J. Gordon (sperm whale), and C. JohnsonEarthOcean (vaquita)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Title II of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) created the Marine Mammal Commission and 

directed it to undertake a continuing review of “research programs conducted or proposed to be conducted 

under the authority of the Act.” In 2010 the Commission initiated an online survey to assess marine 

mammal research and conservation activities conducted or supported by federal agencies in fiscal year 

2009. The survey asked agencies to describe their marine mammal-related programs, projects, and grants, 

as well as information on the nature of the research, the species and areas studied, the threats and issues 

addressed, and the funding obligated.

Agencies within the Departments of Commerce, the Interior, Defense, and Health and Human 

Services, and the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

Smithsonian Institution, North Pacific Research Board, and Marine Mammal Commission reported a 

combined total of $125.1 million (M) in funding for 445 projects. The Department of Commerce’s 

National Marine Fisheries Service has lead responsibility for research and management related to 

cetaceans, seals, fur seals, and sea lions, and the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service and U.S. Geological survey have lead responsibility for management and research (respectively) 

of the manatee, polar bear, sea otter, and walrus. Together, these three agencies accounted for $59.3M (47

percent) of the total funding reported. The Navy, Army Corps of Engineers, and former Minerals 

Management Service, all of which are responsible for mitigating the impact of their activities and policies

on marine mammals, provided an additional $35.1M (28 percent) for research and mitigation efforts. The 

Smithsonian’s National Zoo accounted for $15.0M that was used to improve its seal and sea lion exhibit,

and a number of other agencies provided the remaining $15.7M.

Funding differed substantially by region. The National Marine Fisheries Service directed $20.6M 

(52 percent) of its region-specific funding to the Alaska Region, $8.0M (20 percent) to the Northeast 

Region, $6.3M (16 percent) to the Pacific Islands Region, and $1.5M (4 percent) to each of the 

Southwest, Southeast, and Northwest Regions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. 

Geological Survey distributed their funds in accordance with the marine mammals they respectively 

manage and study: $4.1M (68 percent) went to the Alaska Region for the polar bear, walrus, and sea otter;

$1.4M (23 percent) to the Southeast Region for the manatee; and $0.6M (9 percent) to the Pacific and 

California/Nevada Regions for the sea otter. The dispersal of funds by the Department of Defense and 

Minerals Management Service also varied by region, reflecting the distribution of their activities or 

leasing programs in the Gulf of Mexico, off southern California, in the central Pacific (Navy), or in

Alaskan waters.

With regard to study objectives, agencies focused $25.5M (20 percent) of federal funding on

stock assessment and population dynamics, and another $24.4M (19 percent) on studies of marine 

mammal biology and ecology. They directed $15.8M (13 percent) toward interactions with human 

activities other than fisheries, such as shipping, military testing and training, and seismic surveys. They 

also directed $16.8M (13 percent) to education and outreach, $8.6M (7 percent) to animal health, $8.4M 

(7 percent) to fisheries interactions, and $8.0M (6 percent) to technology development. The remaining 15

percent was dispersed among a variety of other objectives. The $16.8M for education and outreach was 

higher than might have been expected because of the National Zoo’s $15.0M capital investment in its seal 

and sea lion exhibit.
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With regard to the species involved, agencies directed $98.5M (79 percent of all funding) to 

projects focused on one or more of 72 individual species or 14 species groups. The remaining $26.6M (21

percent) supported projects of general benefit to all marine mammals. By species, total funding varied 

from about $4M to $8M for each of the North Atlantic right whale, Steller sea lion, Hawaiian monk seal, 

humpback whale, West Indian manatee, and Cuvier’s beaked whale ($35.0M in total; 36 percent of the 

$98.5M that could be attributed to a species or species group, and 28 percent of the total funding). 

Funding for an additional 18 species or species groups exceeded $1.0M each ($37.3M in total). Nine

pinniped1species—Steller and California sea lions; northern fur seals; Hawaiian monk, harbor, gray, 

bearded, and Weddell seals; and walrus—accounted for $39.5M (40 percent of the funding that could be 

attributed to a species or species group, and 32 percent of the total funding), although, again, this amount 

was bolstered by the National Zoo’s $15.0M investment in its seal and sea lion exhibit, which houses gray

and harbor seals and California sea lions. Six large whales—North Atlantic right, humpback, fin, sperm, 

bowhead, and gray whales—accounted for $20.8M (21 percent of the funding that could be attributed to a 

species or species group, and 17 percent of the total funding). Among odontocetes (toothed whales, 

dolphins, and porpoises), Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales and the general beaked whale group;

common bottlenose dolphins; killer, beluga, and sperm whales and the general sperm whale group; and 

pilot whales accounted for $18.6M (19 percent of the funding that could be attributed to a species or 

species group and 15 percent of the total funding). Three species studied by the U.S. Geological Survey 

and managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service—West Indian manatee, polar bear, and sea otter—

accounted for $11.1M (11 percent of the species-specific funding and 9 percent of the total funding). 

Thirty species and six species groups had funding of less than $0.1M each ($1.5M in total or 2 percent of 

the funding that could be attributed to a species or species group, and 1 percent of the total funding).

Of the funding that could be associated with individual species ($93.9M), agencies directed

$57.0M (61 percent) toward the 22 species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) or designated as depleted or strategic under the MMPA. Of that $57.0M, agencies 

directed $44.1M (77 percent) toward the 19 endangered species, $5.8M (10 percent) toward the three

threatened species, and $7.1M (12 percent) toward the three species designated as depleted or strategic.

Among the species listed as endangered, funding was exceptionally low for the North Pacific right whale 

($0.5M), blue whale ($0.2M), and sei whale (<$0.1M).

The survey did not address the rationale that the agencies used to distribute their resources among 

agency responsibilities. Undoubtedly, funding levels are based on a number of factors, such as a species’ 

conservation status (i.e., endangered, threatened, depleted, strategic, or none of those) and the extent to 

which a species interacts with human activities (e.g., fisheries interactions, oil and gas operations, ship 

strikes). The Commission is examining those factors in two additional projects currently underway. The 

first is a review of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s efforts to assess the marine mammal stocks 

under its purview. The second is an assessment of the Service’s national priorities for marine mammal 

research and conservation.

Finally, the Marine Mammal Commission gratefully acknowledges the time and effort 

contributed by respondents from other federal agencies participating in the survey. The Commission also 

greatly appreciates respondents’ comments, which have improved the survey and its usefulness 

substantially. Additional comments on this report are welcome and should be submitted to the 

Commission at surveyffr@mmc.gov.

 

1

Seals, sea lions, fur seals, and walrus are all considered pinnipeds.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive summary......................................................................................................................................iii

Table of contents........................................................................................................................................... v

List of tables................................................................................................................................................. vi

List of figures.............................................................................................................................................. vii

Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 1

Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

Results........................................................................................................................................................... 3

Funding by agency ................................................................................................................................. 3

National Marine Fisheries Service................................................................................................... 3

Navy................................................................................................................................................. 5

Smithsonian Institution .................................................................................................................... 7

National Science Foundation ........................................................................................................... 7

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers........................................................................................................ 8

U.S. Geological Survey.................................................................................................................... 8

Minerals Management Service ........................................................................................................ 8

National Ocean Service.................................................................................................................. 10

National Institutes of Health .......................................................................................................... 11

National Park Service .................................................................................................................... 11

Marine Mammal Commission ....................................................................................................... 11

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ...................................................................................................... 12

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research............................................................................... 12

North Pacific Research Board........................................................................................................ 13

Air Force ........................................................................................................................................ 13

National Aeronautic and Space Administration............................................................................. 13

Department of Energy.................................................................................................................... 13

Environmental Protection Agency................................................................................................. 14

Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program..................................................... 14

Department of Agriculture............................................................................................................. 14

Department of Homeland Security – U.S. Coast Guard ................................................................ 14

Department of State ....................................................................................................................... 14

Funding by project objective ................................................................................................................ 15

Funding by species and taxonomic family ........................................................................................... 18

Funding by conservation status............................................................................................................ 21

Discussion................................................................................................................................................... 23

Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................................... 26

Appendix A: Previous Commission reports................................................................................................ 27

Appendix B: Common and scientific names............................................................................................... 28

Appendix C: Quality control/quality assurance procedures........................................................................ 29

Appendix D: Projects and funding levels by agency for fiscal year 2009 .................................................. 30
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List of tables

Table 1. Project fields and objectives in the fiscal year 2009 online survey.................................................................2

Table 2. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by federal agency, including only those ............................3

agencies that responded to the survey and reported funding.

Table 3. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by various headquarters programs, regional ......................6

offices, and science centers, and by region, within the National Marine Fisheries Service. For regional

totals (offices and science centers combined), the far right column lists the percent of the combined 

funding directed toward the regions ($39.3M).

Table 4. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by agency, center, and office, and by region, ....................9

within the Department of the Interior.

Table 5. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by project objective (all agencies combined)...................16

Table 6. Funding in fiscal year 2009 (in millions of dollars) per species or species group with funding...................19

in excess of $0.1M, excluding funding for the National Zoo project. Single-species projects were 

directed toward specific species, and multi-species projects were directed toward two or more species

or species groups. Species groups were included in the survey to give program managers an alternative 

if they could not be more specific.

Table 7. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by taxonomic family or ecological group. .......................21

For any given family or group, total funding is the sum of funding for single-species projects involving 

members of that family/group plus the shares of funding from multiple-species projects for members 

of that family/group. Values for true and eared seals are shown with and without (in parentheses) the 

National Zoo project. The subtotal values for baleen whales (multi-species and total) are greater than 

the sum of the values for right whales, rorquals, and gray whale because $0.7M was associated with 

the baleen whale group.

Table 8. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by species’ conservation status. The columns .................23

indicate species by ESA/MMPA status, IUCN category (for comparison), funding, percentage of status

sub-total, and percentage of all funding. IUCN categories are critically endangered (CE), endangered 

(E),vulnerable (V), near threatened (NT), least concern (LC), data deficient (DD), and extinct (E). The

“Not listed” status includes those species not listed under the ESA or MMPA; they are included in the

table individually if funding for them was at least $0.2M and a single total is provided for the 25 

remaining species. Species are placed in the table according to the conservation status of their 

constituent sub-species or stocks considered most at risk.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

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List of figures

Figure 1. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by agency. Agencies are the National Marine..................4

Fisheries Service (NMFS), U.S. Navy (USN), Smithsonian Institution (SI), National Science 

Foundation (NSF), Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Minerals 

Management Service (MMS), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), 

Marine Mammal Commission (MMC), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Office of Ocean 

and Atmospheric Research (OAR), North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), U.S. Air Force (USAF), 

National Park Service (NPS), and National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA).

Figure 2. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by National Marine Fisheries Service offices, .................5

regional offices, and science centers. Included are the Office of Protected Resources (OPR), Alaska 

Regional Office (AKRO), Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AKFSC), Northeast Regional Office

(NERO), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), 

Office of Science and Technology (OS&T), Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), Northeast 

Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC), Southeast Regional 

Office (SERO), and Southwest Regional Office (SWR).

Figure 3. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) for the Alaska (AK), Northeast (NE), Pacific ..................7

Islands (PI), Southwest (SW), Southeast (SE), and Northwest (NW) Regions of the National Marine

Fisheries Service.

Figure 4. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by Department of the Interior agencies, .........................10

including the Minerals Management Service (MMS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (USFWS), and National Park Service (NPS). Units within these agencies include the 

Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Office (AK), Alaska Science Center (ASC), Southeast Ecological 

Science Center (SESC), Marine Mammal Management Office (MMMO), Gulf of Mexico Outer 

Continental Shelf Office (GM), Glacier Bay National Park (GBNP), Western Ecological Research 

Center (WERC), Jacksonville Field Office (JFO), Katmai and Kenai Fjords National Parks (KKFNP), 

Boquerón Field Office, Puerto Rico (BFO), Point Reyes National Park (PRNP), Kalaupapa National 

Historic Park (KNHP), Beringia National Heritage Program (BNHP), Redwood National Park (RNP), 

Western Washington Field Office (WWFO), National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), Golden Gate 

National Recreational Area (GGNRA), and Channel Islands National Park (CINP).

Figure 5. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by project objective, including stock..............................17

assessment/population biology (SA), education and outreach (EO), other (non-fisheries) anthropogenic 

impacts (AI), general biology (BIO), ecology (ECO), animal health (AH), fishery interactions (FI), 

technology development (TD), harvest/co-management (HC), literature review/data synthesis (LR), 

and other (OTH).

Figure 6. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by species and species groups with funding...................20

greater than $0.1M, excluding the $26.6M attributed to the “all marine mammals” group.

Figure 7. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by taxonomic family or ecological group. .....................22

Two taxonomic groupings, the sperm whale group, which includes sperm whale, dwarf sperm whale, 

and pygmy sperm whale, and the sirenian group, which includes manatees and dugongs, each represent 

two taxonomic families. The values for true seals and eared seals do not include the $15.0M for the 

Smithsonian Institution’s seal and sea lion exhibit.

Figure 8. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by species’ conservation status. The “Not. ....................25

listed” category ($36.8M in total) is shown in two slices—funding for the National Zoo project versus 

funding for all other projects focused on species not listed under the ESA or designated under the 

MMPA.
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INTRODUCTION

Title II of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) directed the Marine Mammal 

Commission to conduct a continuing review of “...research programs conducted or proposed to be 

conducted under the authority of the Act... .” From 1974 to 2000 the Commission fulfilled that duty, in 

part, by conducting a “Survey of Federally-Funded Marine Mammal Research and Studies” (Appendix 

A). The Commission discontinued the survey in 2000 because it questioned whether the results were

being used. In 2010 the Commission re-initiated the survey—now entitled the “Survey of Federallyfunded Research and Conservation”—for fiscal year 2009. Based on current budgets and the need for

efficiency in research and conservation, the Commission now considers the survey essential to inform

decision-makers of the need for and use of resources for marine mammal research and conservation.

The survey was designed to gather funding information from federal agencies2regarding their 

marine mammal research and conservation activities. Research may occur in the field, a laboratory, or a 

captive facility and may involve computer simulations, analyses of pre-existing databases, or integration 

of traditional Native American knowledge. Topics may include such things as anatomy, morphology, 

physiology, nutrition, metabolism, energetics, genetics, neurology, hearing, sound production, 

echolocation, dive physiology, cognition, parasitology, disease/health, and individual animal condition. 

Research may focus on species’ natural history traits such as breeding systems, foraging patterns and diet, 

diving patterns, movements and home range, time budgets, or seasonality of various behavioral activities. 

At the population level it may focus on such things as distribution, stock structure and genetic exchange, 

abundance, trends, status, social structure, migration, demographics including vital rates (growth, birth, 

and death rates), life history traits, evolution, or taxonomy. At the ecosystem level it may focus on such 

things as prey abundance, distribution, and availability; competition; predator avoidance, and habitat 

selection/use. For conservation purposes, it often focuses on marine mammal/human conflicts such as 

fishery interactions, ship strikes, disturbance, entanglement in marine debris, direct taking, and habitat 

degradation. Finally, research can involve the development, testing, and deployment of a wide range of 

scientific methods and technologies, such as line-transect, mark-recapture, and photo-identification

methods, and the development and refinement of various types of tags, tracking devices, acoustic devices, 

tissue-sampling devices, analytical software, assessment models, and simulation software.

Conservation activities often are aimed at managing human-related risks to marine mammals. 

They may involve the development of conservation regulations and policies, permitting of research and 

other activities that may take3 marine mammals incidentally, development of mitigation and monitoring 

measures, enforcement, education and outreach, status reviews and listing decisions, recovery planning, 

section 7 consultations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), co-management of subsistence hunting, 

stranding and entanglement response, rehabilitation, the application of new technologies/equipment (e.g., 

fishing gear), and management evaluation. Supporting activities such as administration, infrastructure 

development and maintenance, capital investment, information/database development and maintenance, 

and communications (e.g. workshops, conferences) also are essential for marine mammal conservation.

This report describes the survey results for fiscal year 2009. The results include funding levels 

and associated information reported by agencies and basic analyses of that information, such as funding 

by project objective, taxonomic family, and conservation status of the focal species.

 

2

In this report the term “agency” refers generically to federal departments, administrations, bureaus, services, 

offices, programs, institutions, commissions, etc.

3

“Take” means to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine mammal.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

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METHODS

In 2010 the Commission initiated an online data-entry application to conduct the fiscal year 2009 survey. 

It wrote to the director of each agency known to have funded, or that might have funded, research or 

conservation efforts for marine mammals in fiscal year 2009. With the approval of each agency director, 

the Commission then asked agency program managers to complete the online survey form.

For each project, the survey requested data that would indicate the effort and resources (i.e., 

number of projects and amount of funding) dedicated to marine mammal research and conservation

relative to factors of interest (e.g., agency, objectives, region, species, and conservation status; data fields 

are listed in Table 1). The survey required respondents to specify a primary objective for each project

with the option of adding a secondary objective (Table 1). Both primary and secondary objectives were 

defined by a general category and sub-category (e.g., ecology – habitat) and also required information on 

the focal species and location (Appendix B lists the species included in this report). Except for required 

data types, the survey allowed the respondents to be as general or specific as they deemed appropriate.

The Commission processed the entered data and worked with respondents to resolve any 

discrepancies revealed during a quality assurance/control process (Appendix C). The Commission then 

completed the analyses described in this report, submitted the report in draft form to the agencies for their 

review, modified the draft as appropriate based on agency feedback, and finalized the report.

Table 1. Project fields and objectives in the fiscal year 2009 online survey.

Project fields Project objectives

Title and number

Year(s)

Principal investigator(s) name(s)

Performing agency name and type

Sponsor (funding agency)

Total award amount (funding 

obligated)

Start and end dates

Award amounts

Primary objective

Methods (keywords)

Species 

Research location

Geographic name/description

Latitude/longitude (optional)

Percent of funding

Secondary objective (optional)

Methods

Species

Research Location

Geographic name/description

Latitude/longitude (optional)

Percent of funding

Project summary

Awards, honors, publications and 

presentations

(1) General biology

(a) Anatomy

(b) Bioacoustics

(c) Feeding/diet

(d) Genetics/taxonomy

(e) Historical analysis

(f) Physiology/biochemistry

(g) Reproduction

(h) Social behavior

(i) Traditional ecological 

knowledge

(2) Ecology

(a) Habitat

(b) Oceanography/productivity

(c) Trophic interactions

(3) Stock assessment/population

biology

(a) Abundance, trends,

distribution

(b) Stock identification/

delineation

(4) Animal health

(a) Contaminants

(b) Diagnostics

(c) Disease

(d) Monitoring/assessment

(e) Necropsies

(f) Stranding response

(5) Fishery interactions

(a) Bycatch/entanglement

(b) Depredation

(c) Indirect fishery interactions

(d) Bycatch/entanglement 

reduction

(6) Harvest/co-management

(7) Other anthropogenic impacts/

assessment

(a) Ecotourism

(b) Military activities

(i) Acoustics

(ii) Explosives

(c) Oil and gas activities

(d) Other industrial activities

(e) Shipping

(i) Acoustics

(ii) Collisions

(8) Technology development

(a) Animal detection

(b) Listening systems/acoustics

(c) Photo-identification

(d) Tagging

(9) Literature review/data synthesis

(10) Education and outreach /

engagement
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RESULTS

Survey respondents included the Air Force, Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Energy, 

Environmental Protection Agency, Fish and Wildlife Service, Marine Mammal Commission, Minerals 

Management Service, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health, 

National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Service, National Park Service, National Science 

Foundation, Navy, North Pacific Research Board, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, 

Smithsonian Institution, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, and U.S. 

Geological Survey. The Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Ocean and 

Coastal Resource Management, and Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program all 

indicated that they did not have relevant programs or had no funding to report. The U.S. Coast Guard 

(Department of Homeland Security) discussed with the Marine Mammal Commission the difficulty of

parsing its single funding allocation covering multiple objectives. The agencies agreed to simply describe

its substantial contributions to marine mammal research and conservation but, in the end, the Coast Guard 

did not submit information to the survey. The Department of Agriculture (including the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service), Department of State, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research’s 

National Sea Grant Program, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History did not respond 

to the survey.

Funding by agency

Responding agencies reported 445

marine mammal projects totaling 

$125.1M (Table 2, Figure 1). The 

projects and associated funding are listed 

in more detail in Appendix D. The 

following is a summary by agency in 

order of each agency’s total funding for 

marine mammal research and 

conservation in 2009.

National Marine Fisheries Service

In U.S. waters, the National 

Marine Fisheries Service is the primary 

agency responsible for research and 

conservation of most marine living 

resources, including the majority of 

marine mammal species. The Service’s 

research and conservation efforts focus 

generally on stock identification and 

assessment, management of human 

interactions with marine mammals (e.g., 

fisheries), and planning/implementation

 

4 The National Zoo committed $15.0M in fiscal year 2009 to a multi-year project (total cost $39.0M) for an upgrade 

of its seal and sea-lion exhibit. This amount of funding is probably not indicative of the Smithsonian Institution’s 

typical funding for marine mammal research and conservation.

Table 2. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by 

federal agency, including only those agencies that responded to the 

survey and reported funding.

Agency

Funding

(millions)

Percent

of total

National Marine Fisheries Service 53.2 42

Navy 25.6 20

Smithsonian Institution415.0 12

National Science Foundation 7.4 6

Army Corps of Engineers 5.1 4

U.S. Geological Survey 4.9 4

Minerals Management Service 4.4 4

National Ocean Service 2.9 2

National Institutes of Health 2.7 2

Fish and Wildlife Service 1.3 1

National Park Service 0.9 1

Marine Mammal Commission 0.9 1

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Research 0.4 <1

North Pacific Research Board 0.3 <1

Air Force 0.2 <1

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration 0.1 <1

Total 125.1 100
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 4

Figure 1. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by agency. Agencies are the National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), U.S. Navy (USN), Smithsonian Institution (SI), National Science Foundation (NSF), Army Corps 

of Engineers (ACE), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Minerals Management Service (MMS), National Ocean 

Service (NOS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Marine Mammal Commission (MMC), U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (USFWS), Office of Ocean and Atmospheric Research (OAR), North Pacific Research Board (NPRB), U.S.

Air Force (USAF), National Park Service (NPS), and National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA).

of recovery measures for species listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA or depleted or strategic 

under the MMPA. Each regional science center conducts research on marine mammals to inform the 

corresponding regional office. Within each regional office, the Division of Protected Resources assumes 

primary responsibility for marine mammal management, protection, and conservation activities.

At the Service’s headquarters, the Office of Science and Technology provides broad oversight of

the Service’s scientific activities, including many of those aimed at marine mammals and the ecosystems 

of which they are a part. The Office of Protected Resources develops regulations and policies to 

implement the MMPA and ESA, issues permits and authorizations for activities that take marine 

mammals, and manages the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program and the John H. 

Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program. It also is responsible for, or oversees, listing 

decisions and recovery activities such as developing recovery plans, designating critical habitat, managing 

a grants program under section 6 of the ESA, and conducting consultations under section 7 of the ESA.

In fiscal year 2009, the National Marine Fisheries Service directed $53.2M (42 percent of the 

total funding; Figure 1, Table 2) toward 132 marine mammal research and conservation projects. Within 

the Service funding was split between regional offices ($20.4M, 38 percent of the $53.2M), regional 

NMFS

$53.2M

USN

$25.6M

SI

$15.0M

NSF

$7.4M

USACE

$5.1M

USGS

$4.9M

MMS

$4.4M

NOS

$2.9M

NIH

$2.7M

USFWS

$1.3M

NPS

$0.9M

MMC

$0.9M

OAR

$0.4M NPRB

$0.3M USAF

$0.2MNASA

$0.1M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 5

science centers ($18.9M, 36 percent), and national programs ($13.8M, 26 percent) (Figure 2, Table 3).

Seventy-four percent of the agency’s funding for marine mammals went to four units—the Office of 

Protected Resources ($11.9M, 22 percent), Alaska Regional Office ($10.9M, 21 percent), Alaska 

Fisheries Science Center ($9.7M, 18 percent), and Northeast Regional Office ($6.8M, 13 percent). On a 

regional basis, the Service’s funding for marine mammal research and conservation was highest in the 

Alaska region ($20.6M, 52 percent of the combined funding for all regional offices and science centers), 

intermediate for the Northeast ($8.0M, 20 percent) and Pacific Islands regions ($6.3M, 16 percent), and 

lowest for the Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Regions ($1.5M, 4 percent, each; Table 3, Figure 3).

Navy

The Navy funds marine mammal research and conservation activities to meet its environmental 

compliance obligations under the MMPA, ESA, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and to 

fulfill its responsibilities as a steward of the marine environment. A review of the research and 

conservation activities undertaken by the Navy indicates that these activities are aimed largely at three 

particular needs. The first is to avoid unnecessary effects on marine mammals from the use of sonar. The 

second is to mitigate and monitor activities during testing and training activities and to document the 

potential effects of such activities. The third is to conduct studies related to the abundance, distribution,

Figure 2. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by National Marine Fisheries Service offices, regional 

offices, and science centers. Included are the Office of Protected Resources (OPR), Alaska Regional Office

(AKRO), Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AKFSC), Northeast Regional Office (NERO), Pacific Islands Fisheries 

Science Center (PIFSC), Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), Office of Science and Technology (OS&T), 

Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), Northwest Fisheries 

Science Center (NWFSC), Southeast Regional Office (SERO), and Southwest Regional Office (SWR).

OPR

$11.9M

AKRO

$10.9M

AFSC

$9.7M

NERO

$6.8M

PIFSC

$4.0M

PIRO

$2.3M

OS&T

$1.9M

SWFSC

$1.5M

SEFSC

$1.4M

NEFSC

$1.2M

NWFSC

$1.0M

NWRO

$0.4M

SERO

<$0.1M SWRO

<$0.1M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 6

 

5

Funding for marine mammals by the Office of Science and Technology included the Fisheries National Observer 

Program. The National Observer Program focuses on matters related to fisheries management and research, but 

also gathers data on protected species including marine mammals. The amount recorded by the Survey for this 

project was the sum of funding to the various observer programs that were operated under the authority of the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act ($1.0M). In the future, the Commission and Program will evaluate alternative 

methods for judging the Program’s funding directed toward marine mammals.

Table 3. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by various headquarters programs, regional offices, and 

science centers, and by region, within the National Marine Fisheries Service. For regional totals (offices and 

science centers combined), the far right column lists the percent of the combined funding directed toward the 

regions ($39.3M).

National Marine Fisheries Service Funding 

(millions)

Percent of

sub-total

Percent of

agency total

By regional offices, science centers, headquarters programs, and regions

Regional offices

Alaska 10.9 54 21

Northeast 6.8 33 13

Pacific Islands 2.3 11 4

Northwest 0.4 2 1

Southeast <0.1 <1 <1

Southwest <0.1 <1 <1

Sub-total 20.4 100 38

Fisheries science centers

Alaska 9.7 51 18

Pacific Islands 4.0 21 8

Southwest 1.5 8 3

Southeast 1.4 8 3

Northeast 1.2 6 2

Northwest 1.0 5 2

Sub-total 18.9 100 36

Programs

Office of Protected Resources 11.9 86 22

Office of Science and Technology51.9 14 4

Sub-total 13.8 100 26

Total 53.2 100

By regions (regional offices and science centers combined)

Alaska 20.6 52

Northeast 8.0 20

Pacific Islands 6.3 16

Southwest 1.5 4

Southeast 1.5 4

Northwest 1.5 4

Total 39.3 100
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 7

foraging, reproduction, physiology, hearing and 

sound production, behavior, or ecology of 

marine mammals to generate information needed 

for risk assessment. Overall, the Navy allocated 

$25.6M for 138 marine mammal research and 

conservation projects in fiscal year 2009.

Within the Navy, the Office of Naval 

Research supports a wide range of basic and 

early-stage applied research and technology 

development related to understanding such 

things as the physiological, behavioral, 

ecological, and demographic effects of sound on 

marine mammals. In fiscal year 2009 the Office 

of Naval Research directed $14.0M to 108

marine mammal research and conservation 

projects.

The Chief of Naval Operations is 

comprised of a number of commands that fund 

research and/or conservation activities related to 

marine mammals. In fiscal year 2009 the Naval 

Air Systems Command allocated $5.5M for three projects aimed at developing technologies that would 

help it detect and avoid marine mammals during Navy aircraft testing and training activities. The Energy 

and Environmental Readiness Division (N45) allocated $3.6M for 18 projects, many of which were 

focused on risk assessment and preparation of documents required to comply with the MMPA, ESA, and 

NEPA. The Atlantic Fleets (now Fleet Forces Command) and Pacific Fleet also conducted a variety of 

marine mammal research and conservation activities that were focused on mitigation and monitoring of 

their activities to avoid, minimize, and or document effects on marine mammals during testing and 

training activities.

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution includes 19 museums, the National Zoo, and nine research facilities. 

The Natural History Museum makes its large collection of marine mammal specimens available for 

research. The museum’s Marine Mammal Program works with federal agencies and other responders to 

investigate marine mammal stranding events. Its Fossil Marine Mammal Program houses a collection of 

pre-historical and historical artifacts and historical documents to investigate marine mammal evolution 

and ecology. The National Zoo focuses on public education, scientific research, and conservation of 

endangered species. The Environmental Research Center investigates links between the world’s land and 

water ecosystems. In fiscal year 2009, the Smithsonian Institution allocated $15.0M to upgrade its seal 

and sea lion exhibit at the National Zoo. The National History Museum did not submit data to the survey.

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is not one of the lead agencies with responsibility for research 

on marine mammals. However, it supports research projects that examine critical aspects of marine 

mammal habitat such as large marine ecosystems, including in the Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems, and 

provides support for a number of basic studies on marine mammal physiology, behavior, and ecology. In 

Figure 3. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) 

for the Alaska (AK), Northeast (NE), Pacific Islands (PI), 

Southwest (SW), Southeast (SE), and Northwest (NW) 

Regions of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

AK 

$20.6M

NE

$8.0M

PI

$6.3M

SW

$1.5M

SE

$1.5M

NW

$1.5M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 8

addition, the National Science Foundation supports ocean research in areas considered to be important to 

marine mammals as well as research on methods to mitigate, monitor, and assess the potential effects of 

certain human activities and natural environmental factors on marine mammals and their habitats.

In fiscal year 2009, the National Science Foundation provided $7.4M for 16 projects related to 

marine mammals or marine mammal habitat, with funds directed primarily to two major projects. The 

first was a multi-disciplinary study of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the Western Arctic 

Boundary Current ($2.3M), a critical habitat feature for many Arctic marine mammals. The second 

project was a multi-year study of the effects of geological and geophysical seismic research on marine 

mammals ($1.8M).

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers serves as the nation’s engineers, working with other federal 

agencies, state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions. It builds, supports, 

and manages dams, levees, and waterways; supports military activities with construction and 

infrastructure needs; assists in various ways with natural resource management and restoration; assists 

with disaster response; and undertakes various development projects to support the national economy. In 

fiscal year 2009 the Corps allocated $5.1M for 15 projects related to marine mammal research and 

conservation. Almost all of those funds were to protect specific marine mammal species during Corps

navigation projects.

U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey works with the Fish and Wildlife Service, other federal and state 

agencies, and conservation and academic organizations to study the biology, population dynamics, and 

ecology of the polar bear, walrus, sea otter, and West Indian manatee. The Survey is strictly a research 

organization and has no management or regulatory authority over these species. The agency conducts 

relevant marine mammal research under the Wildlife Program within its Ecosystems Mission Area. The 

U.S. Geological Survey makes the results of its research available to management agencies, such as the 

Fish and Wildlife Service, to inform their management decisions. In fiscal year 2009 the Survey allocated

$4.9M (Table 4, Figure 4) to 26 projects related to the status and health of the polar bear, walrus, sea 

otter, and West Indian manatee, their vulnerability to natural and human-related risk factors, and 

management measures needed to protect and conserve them.

Minerals Management Service

In fiscal year 2009 the safe development of the nation’s offshore energy and mineral resources 

fell under the purview of the Minerals Management Service. The Service’s Environmental Division and 

three main outer continental shelf regions (Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific) supported the research 

needed to comply with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, MMPA, ESA, NEPA, and other 

legislation. For fiscal year 2009 the Service allocated $4.4M (Figure 4, Table 4) for 18 projects, most of 

which were intended to assess the distribution, movements, relative abundance, and ecology of marine 

mammals in areas where oil and gas activities were scheduled to occur, in development, or already 

underway. The majority of those projects (and the funds supporting them) were focused on Arctic marine 

mammals (e.g., bowhead whale, walrus, and polar bear).
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 9

Table 4. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by agency, center, and office, and by region, within the 

Department of the Interior.

Department of the Interior Funding 

(millions)

Percent of

sub-total

Percent 

of total

By agency, center, and office

U.S. Geological Survey

Alaska Science Center 3.1 64 28

Southeast Ecological Science Center 1.2 24 10

Western Ecological Research Center 0.6 12 5

National Wildlife Health Center <0.1 <1 <1

Sub-total 4.9 100 43

Minerals Management Service

Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Office 3.5 79 30

Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Office 0.9 21 8

Sub-total 4.4 100 39

Fish and Wildlife Service

Marine Mammal Management Office, Alaska 1.0 80 9

Jacksonville Field Office, Florida 0.2 14 2

Boquerón Field Office, Puerto Rico 0.1 5 1

Western Washington Field Office <0.1 <1 <1

Sub-total 1.2 100 11

National Park Service

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska 0.7 75 6

Katmai and Kenai Fjords National Parks, Alaska 0.1 12 1

Point Reyes National Park, California 0.1 6 <1

Kalaupapa National Historic Park, Hawaii <0.1 5 <1

Shared Beringia National Heritage Program, Alaska <0.1 1 <1

Redwood National Park, California <0.1 1 <1

Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California <0.1 <1 <1

Channel Islands National Park, California <0.1 <1 <1

Sub-total 0.9 100 8

Total 11.4 100

By region (agencies, centers, and offices combined)

Alaska 8.4 73

Southeast 2.3 21

Southwest 0.7 6

Total 11.4 100
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 10

National Ocean Service

The National Ocean Service is comprised of eight program and three staff offices. Six of those 

offices conduct or support activities relevant to marine mammal research or conservation:

 The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science provide local and national coastal managers with 

the information and tools they need to address coastal issues, especially harmful algal blooms, 

pollution, climate change, and ecosystem management;

 The Coastal Services Center supports governmental organizations attempting to address 

environmental challenges such as flooding, hurricanes, and sea-level rise;

 The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries supports marine mammal research and conservation 

activities at most of its 13 marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument; the sanctuaries 

Figure 4. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by Department of the Interior agencies, including the 

Minerals Management Service (MMS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), 

and National Park Service (NPS). Units within these agencies include the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Office

(AK), Alaska Science Center (ASC), Southeast Ecological Science Center (SESC), Marine Mammal Management 

Office (MMMO), Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Office (GM), Glacier Bay National Park (GBNP), 

Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Jacksonville Field Office (JFO), Katmai and Kenai Fjords National 

Parks (KKFNP), Boquerón Field Office, Puerto Rico (BFO), Point Reyes National Park (PRNP), Kalaupapa 

National Historic Park (KNHP), Beringia National Heritage Program (BNHP), Redwood National Park (RNP), 

Western Washington Field Office (WWFO), National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), Golden Gate National 

Recreational Area (GGNRA), and Channel Islands National Park (CINP).

MMS AK

$3.5M

USGS ASC

$3.1M

USGS SESC

$1.2M

USFWS MMMO

$1.0M

MMS GM

$0.9M

NPS

GBNP

$0.7M

USGS WERC

$0.6M

USFWS JFO

$0.2M

NPS KKFNP

$0.1M

USFWS BFO

$0.1M

NPS PRNP

$0.1M

NPS KNHP

<$0.1

NPS BNHP

<$0.1

NPS RNP

<$0.1M USFWS WWFO

<$0.1M USGWS NWHC

<$0.1M

NPS CINP

<$0.1M

NPS GGNRA

<$0.1M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 11

and monument exist to protect, conserve, and enhance the ecological integrity of special marine 

ecosystems and the organisms that live within them, including marine mammals;

 The Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management manages and protects coastal habitats 

and resources through programs on coastal zone management, estuarine research, coral reefs, and 

marine protected areas; the National Marine Protected Areas Center is part of this Office;

 The Office of Response and Restoration provides scientific information for responding to coastal 

hazards and restoring affected ecosystems; it has supported marine mammal research, such as on

the use of hazing techniques to keep marine mammals away from spilled oil; and

 The Integrated Ocean Observing System Program (part of the larger interagency Integrated Ocean 

Observing System) provides ocean-related information, investigative tools, and forecasts to ocean 

users, managers, and emergency responders.

For fiscal year 2009, the National Ocean Service reported the allocation of $2.9M for 22 projects related 

to marine mammals.

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is 

the nation’s medical research agency and consists of 27 Institutes and Centers. It supports basic research 

on a wide range of topics, some of which are relevant to marine mammal health. Similarly, the health of 

marine mammals is considered a potential factor in disease processes that may affect humans and/or 

domestic animals. In fiscal year 2009 the National Institutes of Health reported seven projects pertinent to 

marine mammal genetics, hematology, and neurobiology, and totaling $2.7M.

National Park Service

The National Park Service contributes to research and management of marine mammals in waters 

and on lands under its authority. Its activities include such things as conducting section 7 consultations, 

ensuring compliance with NEPA, and undertaking marine mammal conservation efforts. The Park Service

is a leader is marine mammal conservation and education at sites such as the Channel Islands and 

Olympic National Parks, Point Reyes and Assateague National Seashores, and Biscayne and Everglades 

National Parks. The Park Service also supports training of its resource managers, who participate in 

marine mammal stranding networks and conduct marine mammal necropsies as needed to determine 

causes of death. The Park Service also considers marine mammals to be a focal point of its Migratory 

Species Program, which was established in 2009. In fiscal year 2009 the National Park Service allocated

$0.9M (Figure 4, Table 4) to 15 studies of marine mammal ecology or stock status.

Marine Mammal Commission

The Marine Mammal Commission supports research and studies pertaining to the conservation 

and protection of marine mammals in accordance with the provisions of the MMPA, ESA, and NEPA. 

The Commission manages its research program to avoid redundancy with studies conducted by other 

agencies. Through its support of research and conservation projects it seeks to develop pro-active 

solutions to emerging human/marine mammal issues before they become crises requiring more costly 

solutions. In fiscal year 2009 the Commission provided a total of $0.9M for 27 projects covering a wide 

range of marine mammal species and related topics.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 12

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assumes primary responsibility for conservation and 

management of the polar bear, West Indian manatee, Pacific walrus, sea otter, and dugong populations 

that occur within the U.S. EEZ. The Service also supports the protection and conservation of these species 

and others6in foreign and international waters. The Service includes a number of offices or programs that 

have a role in marine mammal research or management:

 The Marine Mammal Program at the Service’s headquarters provides national direction for 

marine mammal-related activities;

 The Division of Management Authority reviews applications and issues permits for scientific 

research, public display, and import/export of marine mammal parts and products;

 The Division of International Conservation coordinates international activities for the marine 

mammal species that it is responsible for and that occur in foreign or international waters;

 The Marine Mammal Management office in Anchorage, Alaska, has the responsibility to manage 

and conserve polar bears, Pacific walruses, and sea otters in Alaska;

 The Western Washington Field Office manages otters in Washington state;

 The Ventura Field Office manages southern sea otters in California;

 The Jacksonville Field Office manages the Florida manatee;

 The Boquerón Field Office manages the Antillean manatee;

 The Service's Endangered Species Program at the Service’s headquarters manages the listing or 

delisting of species under the ESA; and

 Field staffs in the Service’s regional offices work with the Service’s partners to census 

populations, assess population health, develop and implement conservation plans, promulgate 

regulations, and create cooperative relationships.

In fiscal year 2009 the Fish and Wildlife Service allocated $1.3M (Figure 4, Table 4) to 14

projects related to the marine mammals under its purview.

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research conducts or supports research on 

environmental phenomena such as ocean currents, El Niño and La Niña events, fisheries productivity, 

deep sea thermal vents, climate variability, and coastal ecosystem health—all topics indirectly related but 

highly relevant to marine mammals. The Office’s research network includes the following:

 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research Laboratories collaborate with 

universities and non-profit organizations to conduct a broad range of ocean research. The Pacific 

Marine Environmental Laboratory has been especially involved in research on acoustics, the 

Arctic, and Arctic climate disruption, much of which is highly relevant to the conservation and 

management of Arctic marine mammals;

 The Office of Ocean Exploration and Research is dedicated to increasing ocean knowledge 

through the exploration, research, and the use of undersea technologies. Research activities 

 

6 West African manatee, Amazonian manatee, Atlantic walrus, Western sea otter, marine otter, and other dugong 

populations.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 13

conducted by, or with the support of, this office promote understanding of the marine 

environment and often provide insights into the natural history of marine mammals and their use 

of specific marine environments;

 The Climate Program Office provides strategic guidance and oversight for the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration's climate science and services programs. This office funds 

programs that focus on understanding the climate system, predicting climate variability and 

change, and improving society’s ability to adapt to such change. Studies conducted or supported 

by this Office also provide insights into the potential effects of climate disruption on marine 

mammals; and

 The National Sea Grant College Program works with universities and research institutions to 

support scientific studies of ocean resources. State Sea Grant organizations occasionally fund 

marine mammal studies.

In fiscal year 2009 the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research reported four projects related 

to marine mammals totaling $0.4M.

North Pacific Research Board

The North Pacific Research Board recommends Arctic and North Pacific marine research to the 

Secretary of Commerce to be funded by the Environmental Improvement and Restoration Fund. The 

research focuses on a range of timely and important research topics (e.g., ecosystem-based fishery 

management, climate disruption), funding is provided on a competitive basis, and the results have 

contributed substantially to scientific understanding of Arctic and North Pacific ecosystems. In fiscal year 

2009 the North Pacific Research Board supported four projects related to marine mammal stock 

assessment, disease, general biology, and fishery interactions totaling $0.3M.

Air Force

The Air Force conducts a range of testing and training activities in or near the marine 

environment. Some of those activities involve the use of live-fire ammunition, explosives, or launches 

that may take marine mammals. To avoid such takes, the Air Force prepares environmental compliance 

documents, assesses threats to marine mammal populations in or near testing/training areas, and conducts 

various monitoring activities in conjunction with its testing/training exercises. In fiscal year 2009 the Air 

Force allocated $0.2M to three stock assessment or monitoring projects related to marine mammals.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is responsible for many technological 

developments that have contributed to marine mammal research, although it does little research directly 

on marine mammals. The research it does conduct is aimed primarily at marine mammal populations 

within or near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and monitoring their response to launches and 

related activities. In fiscal year 2009 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration allocated $0.1M 

for two projects, primarily for monitoring manatee population numbers near the Kennedy Space Center.

Department of Energy

The Department of Energy occasionally supports marine mammal research. Studies have focused 

primarily on energy flow in aquatic ecosystems and on problems related to monitoring marine mammals. 

The Department responded to the fiscal year 2009 survey and indicated that it had no marine mammal 

projects to report.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 14

Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency’s programs are aimed at assessing and preventing or 

limiting the effects of environmental risk factors (e.g., pollutants) on natural resources. The agency 

supports marine mammal research and conservation activities by assessing pollutant levels in coastal and 

pelagic marine organisms and ecosystems. It also assists the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish 

and Wildlife Service in assessing causes of marine mammal mortality events. The agency responded to 

the fiscal year 2009 survey and indicated that it had no marine mammal projects to report.

Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program

The Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program 

assesses the impact of military activities on marine mammals, and manages and protects the natural 

resources, including threatened and endangered species, on Department of Defense lands. The Program 

responded to the fiscal year 2009 survey and indicated that it had no marine mammal projects to report.

Department of Agriculture

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is part of the Department of Agriculture and is 

responsible for regulating the care and husbandry of marine mammals in zoos, aquaria, and other captive 

facilities in accordance with the Animals Welfare Act. In the past the Department of Agriculture also has 

supported or conducted studies related to marine mammal and environmental health (e.g., studies of 

epizootics such as the San Miguel sea lion virus). The Department provides grants to its various research 

agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, the state land-grant university system, co-operating state 

institutions, and participants in its National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program. Those grants 

may be used to support marine mammal research. The Department did not respond to the Commission’s 

request for fiscal year 2009 funding data. However, it stated later that the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service does not currently provide funding for marine mammal research, but it is responsible 

for ensuring that all marine mammal research in the United States is conducted in a humane manner, as 

required by the Animal Welfare Act.

Department of Homeland Security – U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security and the only agency within 

that Department that expends resources on issues related to marine mammals. The Coast Guard focuses 

primarily on compliance and enforcement of the nation’s maritime laws and regulations and on 

emergency response to both natural (e.g., hurricanes) and human-related crises (e.g., distressed vessels). 

The Coast Guard also supports some marine mammal research and conservation activities through its 

Marine Protected Species Program, which aligns its goals and objectives closely with those of the 

National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service. The Coast Guard discussed its funding 

structure with the Marine Mammal Commission but was unable to separate its broad funding allocations 

into separate amounts for specific activities related to marine mammal research or conservation. For 

future reports, the Commission plans to work with the Coast Guard to develop a method acceptable to 

both agencies for characterizing Coast Guard contributions to marine mammal research and conservation.

Department of State

The Department of State supports a wide range of activities that pertain to management of the 

world’s marine ecosystems and wildlife, including marine mammals. The Department provides funding to 

further research and conservation of marine resources through various organizations such as the Inter-
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 15

American Tropical Tuna Commission, the International Whaling Commission, the United Nations 

Environment Programme, regional fishery management programs, and the National Academies of 

Science. The Department did not respond to the Commission’s request for fiscal year 2009 funding data.

Funding by project objective

The survey required program managers to specify a primary objective and allowed them to specify a 

secondary objective to better describe the purposes of their projects and the manner in which they used 

their funding. Of the 445 projects reported, 390 identified a primary objective only and 55 also identified

a secondary objective. Ninety-one percent ($113.9M) of the total funding was directed toward primary 

objectives and 9 percent ($11.3M) toward secondary objectives. The following results are based on all 

objectives, whether primary or secondary.

With regard to the general objective categories, stock assessment and population biology ranked 

first in funding at $25.5M (20 percent of total funding) (Table 5, Figure 5). About 92 percent of the 

$25.5M was directed toward assessment of marine mammal abundance, trends, and distribution based 

primarily on vessel and aircraft surveys. The remaining 8 percent was aimed almost exclusively at stock 

identification. Education and outreach ranked second in funding among general objective categories, 

although the amount allocated—$16.8M—would have been $1.8M without the $15.0M for the National 

Zoo project. Funding was next highest for the general objective “other anthropogenic impacts” ($15.8M, 

13 percent of total funding). About $5.1M of the $15.8M was used to investigate and mitigate the 

acoustic effects of military activities, and $5.0M was used to assess and mitigate the impacts of Army 

Corps of Engineer construction projects. Other anthropogenic impacts also included $4.3M in the 

subcategory “other,” which included $1.8 M to assess and mitigate the impacts of geological and 

geophysical seismic ocean science research on marine mammals, and $2.2M for several projects to 

investigate specific effects of human-generated sound on marine mammals.

General biology accounted for $13.0M in funding (10 percent of total funding), with most of that 

amount aimed at studies of bioacoustics ($6.2M), feeding and diet ($3.7M), and physiology, 

biochemistry, etc. ($1.9M). Ecology accounted for $11.4M (9 percent of total funding), with most of that 

amount aimed at assessment of marine mammal habitat ($7.6M) and trophic interactions ($2.1M). Animal

health accounted for $8.6M (7 percent of total funding); nearly three-quarters ($6.3M) of which was 

reported in the sub-category “other” and supported the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration’s Prescott Grant Program ($4.0M) and Monk Seal Conservation and Management project 

($1.9M). Fisheries interactions received $8.4M (7 percent) in funding,7 with the bulk ($6.5M) going 

toward the reduction of bycatch and entanglement. Technology development accounted for $8.0M (6 

percent of total funding), with $3.0M aimed at the development of acoustic listening systems, $2.9M at 

animal detection and identification capabilities, and $1.1M for various instruments or tags used to assess

animal movements, behavior, and associated habitat/ environmental parameters. The total funding for 

monitoring subsistence harvests and co-management efforts was $2.4M (2 percent of total funding), with

the National Marine Fisheries Service providing $1.9M in support of co-management efforts related to 

nine Alaska Native organizations and the Fish and Wildlife Service providing $0.5M for co-management 

of the polar bear and walrus.

 

7 The Fisheries National Observer Program (Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries Service) 

provided funding for assessing marine mammal-fishery interactions. The Program focuses on matters related to 

fisheries management and research, but also gathers data on protected species including marine mammals. The 

amount recorded by the Survey for this topic was the sum of funding to the various observer programs that were 

operated under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act ($1.0M). In the future, the Commission and 

Program will evaluate alternative methods for judging the Program’s funding directed toward marine mammals.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 16

Table 5. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by project objective (all agencies combined).

Project objective Funding

(millions)

Percent of

sub-total

Percent 

of total

Stock 

assessment /

population 

biology

Abundance, trends and distribution 23.4 92 19

Stock identification/ delineation 2.1 8 2

Other 0.1 <1 <1

Sub-total 25.5 100 20

Education 

and outreach /

engagement

16.8 100 13

Other 

anthropogenic 

impacts /

assessment

Military activities (acoustics) 5.1 32 4

Industrial activities/construction, non-military 5.0 31 4

Ecotourism, whale watching or "swim-with" 

programs

0.6 4 <1

Shipping, non-military (acoustics) 0.3 2 <1

Military activities (explosives) 0.3 2 <1

Oil and gas activities 0.2 2 <1

Shipping, non-military (collisions) <0.1 <1 <1

Other 4.3 27 3

Sub-total 15.8 100 13

General 

biology

Bioacoustics 6.2 47 5

Feeding/diet 3.7 29 3

Physiology, biochemistry, etc. 1.9 14 1

Anatomy 0.7 6 1

Historical analysis 0.3 2 <1

Traditional ecological knowledge <0.1 <1 <1

Social behavior <0.1 <1 <1

Other 0.2 1 <1

Sub-total 13.0 100 10

Ecology

Habitat 7.6 67 6

Trophic interactions 2.1 18 2

Oceanography/productivity 0.5 4 <1

Other 1.2 11 1

Sub-total 11.4 100 9

Animal health

Diagnostics 0.5 6 <1

Monitoring/assessment 0.5 6 <1

Necropsies 0.4 5 <1

Stranding response 0.4 4 <1

Disease 0.3 3 <1

Contaminants 0.3 3 <1

Other 6.3 73 5

Sub-total 8.6 100 7

(continued)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 17

Table 5. (continued)

Project objective Funding 

(millions)

Percent of

sub-total

Percent 

of total

Fishery 

interactions

Bycatch/entanglement reduction 6.5 77 5

Bycatch/entanglement estimation 1.4 16 1

Depredation studies, mitigation 0.3 3 <1

Indirect fishery interactions 0.3 3 <1

Other 0.1 1 <1

Sub-total 8.4 100 7

Technology 

development

Acoustics/listening systems 3.0 38 2

Animal detection and identification 2.9 36 2

Tags 1.1 14 1

Photo-identification 0.4 6 <1

Other 0.5 6 <1

Sub-total 8.0 100 6

Harvest/comanagement 2.4 100 2

Literature 

review/data 

synthesis

0.9 100 1

Other 14.4 100 12

Total 125.1 100

Finally, the general 

project objective “other” was 

relatively large ($14.4M; 12

percent of total funding) for two 

reasons. First, some activities 

were aimed at multiple objectives 

and program managers selected 

“other” rather than one single 

objective. For example, some 

projects involved stranding 

response, health assessment, and 

rehabilitation. Second, not all 

project objectives were 

anticipated in the survey design 

and, without an appropriate 

choice, program managers 

selected “other.” The Commission 

will add categories in future 

surveys to give respondents more 

choices.

Figure 5. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by project 

objective: stock assessment/population biology (SA), education and 

outreach (EO), other (non-fisheries) anthropogenic impacts (AI), general 

biology (BIO), ecology (ECO), animal health (AH), fishery interactions

(FI), technology development (TD), harvest/co-management (HC), 

literature review/data synthesis (LR), and other (OTH).

SA

$25.5M

EO

$16.8M

AI

$15.8M BIO

$13.0M

ECO

$11.4M

AH

$8.6M

FI

$8.4M

TD

$8.0M

HC

$2.4M

LR

$0.9M

OTH

$14.4M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 18

Funding by species and taxonomic family

Program managers specified one or more focal species for each project entered. Distributing funds to a 

specific species was straightforward for single-species projects (e.g., a project studying movement 

patterns of false killer whales in Hawaii), but not so for multi-species projects (e.g., a project surveying an 

area to assess multiple cetacean species). For the latter projects, the 2009 survey did not request that 

program managers allocate the percentage of funding or effort directed towards each species. Therefore, 

the Commission used the simplest approach of distributing the funds equally among all species involved 

in a multi-species project. For any given species, then, the total funding amount combined the sum from 

all projects devoted solely to that species plus the sum of its shares from all of the multi-species projects 

in which it was one of the focal species.

Program managers identified 295 (66 percent) of the 445 projects reported in the survey as being 

focused on a single species. Funding for those 295 projects totaled $47.1M (38 percent of the $125.1M 

reported in 2009; Table 6). The survey identified 74 species as potential subjects of research and 

conservation efforts, but only 39 of them were the target of a single-species project; the other 35 occurred 

only in multi-species projects. An additional four species (harp seal, hooded seal, northern bottlenose 

whale, and Sowerby’s beaked whale) were foci of multi-year projects that spanned fiscal year 2009 but 

did not have funding in that year. The other 150 projects (34 percent) were focused on more than one 

species (several individual species specified and/or one or more species groups specified, or “all marine 

mammals” specified as the focus of the project). Funding for those multi-species projects totaled $36.2M 

(29 percent of the $125.1M reported in 2009). As apparent in Table 6 and Figure 6, funding varied 

considerably by species. In Table 6, the “Remaining species and groups” entry provides the sum of 

funding for Steller's sea cow, Gervais’ beaked whale, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, northern right 

whale dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, Dall’s porpoise, the common dolphin group, Hector’s 

dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, South Asian river dolphin, the Arctic ice seals group, the seal group, 

the large dolphin group, pygmy sperm whale, Bryde’s whale, West African manatee, pantropical spotted 

dolphin, the mesoplodon whale group, rough-toothed dolphin, sei whale, striped dolphin, the rorqual

group, the porpoise group, Atlantic white-sided dolphin, pygmy killer whale, Clymene’s dolphin, Fraser’s 

dolphin, baiji, Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, Irrawaddy dolphin, gray seal,1crabeater seal, southern 

elephant seal, southern right whale, Amazonian manatee, and pygmy beaked whale, each of which 

received <$0.1M in funding. Other species not in the table received no funding in fiscal year 2009, 

although they may have been the focus of some effort based on funds from preceding years (e.g., 

Sowerby’s beaked whale).

Table 7 and Figure 7 depict fiscal year 2009 funding by taxonomic family or ecological group. Of 

the $98.5M that was directed at, or associated with, particular species or species groups (i.e., all funding 

except that for the $26.6M “all marine mammals” group), $42.8 (43 percent) went to pinnipeds (seals, sea 

lions, fur seals, and walrus), $23.7M (24 percent) to odontocetes (dolphins, beaked whales, sperm whales, 

monodonts, and porpoises), $20.6M (21 percent) to baleen whales (right whales, rorquals, and gray 

whale), $5.7M (6 percent) to sirenians (manatees), and $5.7M (6 percent) to the polar bear and sea otter 

combined. If the $15.0M National Zoo project is excluded, then true seals received $15.4M (55 percent) 

and eared seals $10.3M (37 percent) of the remaining $27.8M total funding for pinnipeds. Within the 

odontocete group, ocean dolphins (delphinids) received $9.6M (41 percent), beaked whales $7.9M (33 

percent), sperm whales $3.2M (13 percent), monodonts (beluga whale and narwhal) $2.5M (11 percent), 

ocean dolphins $0.4M (2 percent, and river dolphins and porpoises $0.1M (<1 percent). Within the baleen 

whales, right whales received $9.7M (47 percent), rorquals $8.9M (43 percent), and the gray whale 

$1.3M (6 percent).
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 19

Table 6. Funding in fiscal year 2009 (in millions of dollars) per species or species group with funding in excess of 

$0.1M, excluding funding for the National Zoo project. Single-species projects were directed toward specific species,

and multi-species projects were directed toward two or more species or species groups.

8

Species groups were 

included in the survey to give program managers an alternative if they could not be more specific.

Funding (millions) Funding (millions)

Species/species group

SinglespeciesMultispecies Total Species/species groupSinglespeciesMultispecies Total

North Atlantic right whale 5.0 2.7 7.6 Ribbon seal 0.0 0.9 0.9

Steller sea lion 2.4 3.9 6.3 Spotted seal 0.0 0.9 0.9

Hawaiian monk seal 5.9 0.0 5.9 Baleen whale group – 0.7 0.7

Humpback whale 2.6 3.0 5.6 False killer whale 0.2 0.4 0.6

West Indian manatee 5.3 <0.1 5.4 Northern elephant seal 0.5 0.1 0.6

Cuvier’s beaked whale 2.9 1.3 4.2 Dwarf sperm whale 0.0 0.5 0.5

Polar bear 3.8 0.0 3.8 North Pacific right whale 0.0 0.5 0.5

Common bottlenose dolphin 3.2 0.5 3.7 Kogid whale group – 0.5 0.5

Harbor seal90.5 2.5 3.0 Medium to small dolphin group – 0.5 0.5

Northern fur seal 0.2 2.6 2.8 Long–finned pilot whale 0.3 0.1 0.4

Fin whale <0.1 2.7 2.7 Common minke whale 0.2 0.2 0.3

Beluga 2.2 0.1 2.3 Long–beaked common dolphin 0.0 0.3 0.3

Walrus 2.0 <0.1 2.1 Baird's beaked whale 0.0 0.3 0.3

Bearded seal 1.2 0.9 2.0 Narwhal 0.2 0.0 0.2

Sperm whale 1.3 0.7 2.0 Melon–headed whale 0.0 0.2 0.2

Sea otter 1.8 0.1 1.9 Short–beaked common dolphin 0.0 0.2 0.2

Blainville’s beaked whale 0.8 1.0 1.8 Spinner dolphin 0.0 0.2 0.2

Killer whale 1.2 0.4 1.6 Risso's dolphin 0.0 0.2 0.2

Bowhead whale 1.1 0.4 1.5 Dugong 0.1 0.1 0.2

Beaked whale group – 1.4 1.4 Short–finned pilot whale <0.1 0.1 0.2

California sea lion10 0.1 1.2 1.3 Blue whale <0.1 0.1 0.2

Gray whale 0.6 0.7 1.3 Harbor porpoise 0.0 0.2 0.2

Weddell seal 1.1 0.0 1.1 Vaquita 0.1 0.0 0.1

Pilot whale group – 1.0 1.0 Sperm whale group – 0.1 0.1

Ringed seal 0.0 0.9 0.9 Ziphiid whale group – 0.1 0.1

Remaining species and groups 0.3 1.1 1.5

Total 47.1 36.5 83.511

 

8 The survey allowed respondents to select specific species or unidentified-species groups. For example, baleen 

whales can be difficult to distinguish in the field and the survey provided the selection “unidentified baleen whale” 

for projects where they could not identify individual species. Correspondingly, in this table and Figure 6, the 

funding associated with that selection appears as “Baleen whale group.”

9 With the National Zoo project funding, the total funding for harbor seal was $7.8M.

10 With the National Zoo project funding, the total funding for California sea lion was $6.3M.

11 With the National Zoo project funding, the total funding was $98.5M.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 20

Figure 6. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by species and species groups with funding greater than $0.1M, excluding the $26.6M attributed to the 

“all marine mammals” group.

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

Funding for Species ($ in millions)

Single-species funding

Multiple-species funding
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 21

Funding by conservation status

The National Marine Fisheries 

Service and the Fish and Wildlife 

Service designate marine mammal 

conservation status in accordance 

with the provisions of the ESA 

and MMPA. The ESA defines a 

species as endangered if it is “in 

danger of extinction within the 

foreseeable future throughout all 

or a significant portion of its 

range” or threatened if it is “likely 

to become an endangered species 

within the foreseeable future 

throughout all or a significant 

portion of its range.” The MMPA 

defines a marine mammal species 

(or population stock) as depleted if 

it is below its optimal sustainable 

population level. It defines a 

strategic marine mammal species 

(or population stock) as one—

(A) “... for which the level of 

direct human caused 

mortality exceeds the 

potential biological removal 

level;

(B) which, based on the best 

available scientific 

information, is declining and 

is likely to be listed as a 

threatened species under the 

Endangered Species Act of 

1973 ... within the 

foreseeable future; or

(C) which is listed as a 

threatened species or 

endangered species under 

the Endangered Species Act 

of 1973 ... or is designated 

as depleted....”

 

12 The survey allowed respondents to select specific species or unidentified species groups. In this table and Figure 7 

funding associated with “Ocean dolphins,” for example, is the sum of single-species and multi-species funding for 

the oceanic species of dolphins, plus the multi-species funding for oceanic dolphin groups (e.g., “Common dolphin 

group,” “Large dolphin group,” etc.).

13 Beluga and narwhal.

Table 7. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by taxonomic 

family or ecological group. For any given family or group, total funding 

is the sum of funding for single-species projects involving members of 

that family/group plus the shares of funding from multiple-species 

projects for members of that family/group.12 Values for true and eared 

seals are shown with and without (in parentheses) the National Zoo 

project. The subtotal values for baleen whales (multi-species and total)

are greater than the sum of the values for right whales, rorquals, and gray 

whales because $0.7M was associated with the baleen whale group.

Taxonomic family/

ecological group

Singlespecies 

funding

Multispecies 

funding 

Total

funding

Pinnipeds

True seals 9.2 16.2

(6.2)

25.4

(15.4)

Eared seals 2.7 12.7

(7.7)

15.3

(10.3)

Walrus 2.0 <0.1 2.1

Sub-total 13.9 28.9

(13.9)

42.8

(27.8)

Odontocetes

Ocean dolphins 5.0 4.7 9.6

Beaked whales 3.7 4.2 7.9

Sperm whales 1.3 1.9 3.2

Monodonts13 2.4 0.1 2.5

Ocean porpoises 0.2 0.2 0.4

River dolphins 

and porpoises 0.1 <0.1 0.1

Sub-total 12.5 11.1 23.7

Baleen whales

Right whales 6.1 3.6 9.7

Rorquals 2.9 6.1 8.9

Gray whale 0.6 0.7 1.3

Sub-total 9.6 11.0 20.6

Sirenians 5.4 0.3 5.7

Polar bear 3.8 0.0 3.8

Sea otter 1.8 0.1 1.9

Total 47.1 51.4

(36.4)

98.5

(83.5)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 22

Thus, any species listed as 

endangered or threatened under the 

ESA also will be designated as 

depleted and strategic under the 

MMPA, and any species designated 

as depleted will be designated as 

strategic. However, not every 

strategic species will necessarily be 

designated as depleted or listed as 

threatened or endangered.

The International Union for 

Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

maintains a Red List of Threatened 

Species that is used throughout much 

of the world. The IUCN categorizes 

species in one of seven categories: 

critically endangered (extremely high

risk of extinction), endangered (high 

risk of extinction), vulnerable (high 

risk of endangerment), near 

threatened (likely to become 

endangered in the near future), least 

concern (lowest risk), data deficient 

(not enough data to assess extinction 

risk), and extinct.

In fiscal year 2009 federal 

agencies directed a total of $93.9M 

toward research and/or conservation 

of single-species or multi-species 

funding where the individual species 

could be identified (i.e., excluding 

funding for specific species groups 

and for the general “all marine 

mammals” group). Of this total, 61 

percent ($57.0M) was directed 

toward, or associated with, species 

listed as endangered or threatened, or designated as depleted or strategic (Figure 8; Table 8). The 

remaining 39 percent ($36.9M) was directed toward, or associated with, species not listed or designated in 

one of these categories. Funding ranged from about $1.5M to $7.6M dollars for each of the 15 most 

highly funded species listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA or designated as depleted or 

strategic under the MMPA (Table 8). Funding for those 15 species totaled $55.2M compared to $1.7M for 

the remaining 10 species that are listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA or designated as 

depleted or strategic under the MMPA. To illustrate further the variation in funding, for endangered large 

whales the combined funding for North Atlantic right, humpback, fin, bowhead, and sperm whales was 

$3.9M per species ($19.5M in total), whereas that for the remaining species North Pacific right, blue, sei 

whales and southern right whale was $0.2M per species ($0.7M in total).

Figure 7. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by 

taxonomic family or ecological group. Two taxonomic groupings, the 

sperm whale group, which includes sperm whale, dwarf sperm whale, 

and pygmy sperm whale, and the sirenian group, which includes 

manatees and dugongs, each represent two taxonomic families. The 

values for true seals and eared seals do not include the $15.0M for the 

Smithsonian Institution’s seal and sea lion exhibit.

True Seals

$15.4M

Eared Seals

$10.3M

Right 

Whales

$9.7M

Ocean 

Dolphins

$9.6M

Rorquals

$8.9M

Beaked 

Whales

$7.9M

Manatees

$5.7M

Polar

bear

$3.8M

Sperm 

Whales

$3.2M

Monodonts

$2.5M

Walrus

$2.1M

Sea otter

$1.9M

Gray whale

$1.3M

Ocean 

Porpoises

$0.4M

River 

Dolphins 

and 

Porpoises

$0.1M Other

$0.7M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 23

DISCUSSION

The main purpose of this 

survey and report is to help 

federal agencies, 

individually and as a 

community, ensure the 

wisest use of limited 

resources for marine 

mammal research and 

conservation. The 

Commission hopes that this 

report, and those that follow, 

will assist agencies in (1) 

matching their resources to 

their needs and 

responsibilities (i.e., setting 

priorities and distributing 

funds accordingly) and (2) 

identifying areas where they 

may better coordinate within 

and among agencies. The 

Commission also hopes that 

this and subsequent reports 

provide a useful long-term 

record of resources 

contributed to marine 

mammal research and 

conservation.

The survey results 

provide an informative 

overview of the total amount 

of federal funding being 

used for marine mammal 

research and conservation. 

The results also provide a 

useful overview of the 

agencies contributing to that 

funding, their objectives, the 

distribution of the funding 

by region within 

agencies, the target species 

and species groups, and the 

 

14 The western stock is listed as depleted and the eastern as threatened.

15 The Cook Inlet stock is listed as endangered; the other four stocks are not listed.

16 The southern resident stock is listed as endangered and the AT1 transient stock is designated as depleted.

17 The California and southwest Alaska stocks are listed as threatened; the other three stocks are not listed.

Table 8. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by species’ 

conservation status. The columns indicate species by ESA/MMPA status, IUCN 

category (for comparison), funding, percentage of status sub-total, and 

percentage of all funding. IUCN categories are critically endangered (CE), 

endangered (E), vulnerable (V), near threatened (NT), least concern (LC), data 

deficient (DD), and extinct (E). The “Not listed” status includes those species 

not listed under the ESA or MMPA; they are included in the table individually if 

funding for them was at least $0.2M and a single total is provided for the 25 

remaining species. Species are placed in the table according to the conservation 

status of their constituent sub-species or stocks considered most at risk.

Status/Species

IUCN 

category

Funding

(millions)

Percent

of subtotalPercent 

of total

Endangered

North Atlantic right whale E 7.6 17 8

Steller sea lion14 E 6.3 14 7

Hawaiian monk seal CE 5.9 13 6

Humpback whale LC 5.6 13 6

West Indian manatee V 5.4 12 6

Fin whale E 2.7 6 3

Beluga whale15 NT 2.3 5 2

Walrus DD 2.1 5 2

Sperm whale V 2.0 5 2

Killer whale16 DD 1.6 4 2

Bowhead whale LC 1.5 3 2

North Pacific right whale E 0.5 1 1

Dugong V 0.2 <1 <1

Blue whale E 0.2 <1 <1

Vaquita CE 0.1 <1 <1

South Asian river dolphin E 0.1 <1 <1

Sei whale E <0.1 <1 <1

Southern right whale LC <0.1 <1 <1

Amazonian manatee V <0.1 <1 <1

Sub-total 44.1 100 47

Threatened

Polar bear V 3.8 66 4

Sea otter17 E 1.9 33 2

West African manatee V 0.1 1 <1

Sub-total 5.8 100 6

(continued)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 24

conservation status of those 

species. The general 

information in the body of the 

report can be examined in 

more detail in Appendix D, 

which lists the individual 

projects. That information 

should be useful for 

representatives of federal and 

state agencies, academic 

organizations, nongovernmental conservation 

organizations, industries, 

American Natives, and the 

public who wish to learn 

more about the resources 

being directed toward marine 

mammal research and 

conservation. The detailed 

information in Appendix D 

also should give interested 

parties insights into how 

federal agencies might work 

together or form partnerships 

with other organizations (e.g., 

academia, industries) to 

address important research 

and conservation challenges.

The results will 

undoubtedly prompt the 

question of whether the total 

resources being directed 

toward marine mammal 

research and conservation are 

sufficient in total and are 

being used in the best 

possible way. By itself, this 

survey was not designed to 

address those questions. 

Indeed, answering those questions will require considerably more information about the threats to species 

and their habitat; their risks of decline, extirpation, or extinction; and the types of action needed to resolve 

research and conservation challenges. That being the case, the Commission sought to convey the funding 

 

18 Eleven of 18 stocks are designated as strategic and the western North Atlantic (coastal) is designated as depleted.

19 In 2010 the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed to list the Hawaiian insular stock as endangered.

20 Each includes $5.0M from the National Zoo project.

21 In 2008 the National Marine Fisheries Service initiated an ESA status review of bearded, ringed, ribbon, and 

spotted seals. It has not yet determined whether to list the bearded and ringed seals, determined listing of the 

ribbon seal was not warranted, and listed one of three spotted seal stocks.

Table 8. Continued.

Status/Species IUCN 

category

Funding

(millions)

Percent

of subtotal

Percent

of total

Depleted

Common bottlenose dolphin18 LC 3.7 57 4

Northern fur seal V 2.8 43 3

Sub-total 6.5 100 7

Strategic

False killer whale19 DD 0.6 1

Extinct

Steller’s sea cow EX 0.1 93 <1

Baiji CE <0.1 7 <1

Sub-total 0.1 100 <1

Not listed

Harbor seal LC 8.020 22 9

California sea lion LC 6.321 17 7

Gray seal LC 5.021 14 5

Cuvier’s beaked whale LC 4.2 11 4

Bearded seal21 LC 2.0 6 2

Blainville’s beaked whale DD 1.8 5 2

Gray whale LC 1.3 3 1

Weddell seal LC 1.1 3 1

Ringed seal LC 0.9 2 1

Ribbon seal DD 0.9 2 1

Spotted seal DD 0.9 2 1

Northern elephant seal LC 0.6 2 1

Dwarf sperm whale DD 0.5 1 1

Long-finned pilot whale DD 0.4 1 <1

Common minke whale LC 0.3 1 <1

Long-beaked common dolphin DD 0.3 1 <1

Baird’s beaked whale DD 0.3 1 <1

Narwhal NT 0.2 1 <1

Melon-headed whale LC 0.2 1 <1

Short-beaked common dolphin LC 0.2 1 <1

Remaining 25 species — 1.6 4 2

Sub-total 36.8 100 39

Total 93.9 100
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 25

statistics in this report as objectively 

as possible and without regard to such 

other considerations. The Commission 

is conducting several other special 

projects to develop that additional 

information. For example, the 

Commission is initiating a project to 

develop a set of national priorities for 

marine mammal research and 

conservation, which will entail 

consultation with other agencies, 

particularly the National Marine 

Fisheries Service.

The Commission also 

acknowledges the need to refine the 

survey and the directions provided to 

the cooperating agencies to improve 

the utility of the survey results. Doing 

so means learning more about the 

various ways agencies use and account 

for their resources. As described 

earlier in the report, estimating the 

resources contributed by the Coast 

Guard to marine mammal research and 

conservation will be a challenge. 

Similarly, the Commission also is 

considering how it might best describe 

an agency’s administrative costs (e.g., 

salaries, building maintenance) that are used to support marine mammal research and conservation. The 

Commission plans to address these questions by working with reporting agencies, and expects that 

refinement of the survey will take several years.

Some issues to be addressed include—

 Consistency in defining projects—The number of projects supported or conducted by an agency 

is an imprecise measure of research and conservation effort because projects vary from those that 

involve the activities of a single person and few resources, to those that are much larger, involve 

multiple people and disciplines, and require substantial resources such as vessels, aircraft, or 

extensive laboratory facilities. Such disparities should not have affected the overall funding 

estimates, but do affect the available amount of information and its resolution for apportioning 

funds among species, taxonomic groups, species’ status, regions, and project objectives.

 Attributing funds to specific species—Determining the actual resources committed to research 

and conservation of specific species also was difficult because some amounts were used for 

surveys, for example, that may have involved multiple species. For 2009 the Commission took 

the simplest possible approach to distributing those funds in estimating actual resources by 

dividing them equally among all species that were included in any such project. In future surveys, 

it will ask the agencies to apportion those funds among species.

 Overlap in objectives—Developing mutually exclusive categories for marine mammal research 

and conservation efforts is a challenge. Certain objectives identified in the survey may overlap

Figure 8. Fiscal year 2009 funding (in millions of dollars) by species’ 

conservation status. The “Not listed” category ($36.8M in total) is 

shown in two slices—funding for the National Zoo project versus 

funding for all other projects focused on species not listed under the 

ESA or designated under the MMPA.

Endangered 

$44.1M

Threatened

$5.8M

Depleted

$6.5M

Strategic

$0.6M

Not Listed

$21.8M

Not Listed

(National 

Zoo 

Project)

$15.0M
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 26

with others, and the selection process is dependent upon the respondent’s interpretation of the 

project purpose. For example, stock assessment studies are essential to understand anthropogenic 

impacts, and the study of marine mammal bioacoustics also provides information important for 

assessing anthropogenic effects (e.g., seismic studies, use of sonar). Feeding and diet studies 

provide information about the natural history and ecology of a species, and they also provide 

information about its potential for fisheries interactions.

 Incomplete reporting—The lack of response from a small set of agencies adds a source of bias to 

the amounts reported here as well as to the overall analyses and results. For instance, the lack of 

response from the Department of State means that funding for international marine mammal 

research and conservation is under-reported. It also is feasible that some projects related to 

marine mammals were overlooked.

Finally, the Commission has made a number of changes to the survey based on the 2009 call for 

data and suggestions by responders from the reporting agencies. Several of the more important changes, 

which have been incorporated into the survey for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, are as follows.

 Species information—Both the MMPA and ESA recognize units of conservation smaller than 

taxonomic species. To provide more precise information on the targets of research and 

conservation efforts, the Commission modified the survey to require the identification of specific 

stocks for species that occur within U.S. waters. The stocks were based on the 2009 stock 

assessment reports by the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service 

(available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/sars/species.htm). For projects with multiple species, 

the Commission also required data managers to specify the percentage of effort/funding dedicated 

to each to more accurately indicate how funds were distributed by species.

 Location information—To facilitate review by ecosystem, the Commission modified the survey 

to require respondents to select one or more large marine ecosystems, open ocean areas, or 

specific habitat types (e.g., inland/freshwater river systems) where the research/conservation 

efforts occurred. If more than one item was selected, the Commission also required data managers 

to specify the percentage of effort/funding dedicated to each to more accurately indicate where 

the funds were used.

 Data availability—The Commission also asked the respondent whether the data would be 

available in an online database (e.g., Ocean Biogeographic Information System or OBIS) or 

otherwise be available to the public and, if so, in what format.

 Scope of conservation activities—To provide a more comprehensive summary of funds directed 

toward conservation activities, the Commission asked agencies to report on a wider range of 

activities.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Marine Mammal Commission gratefully acknowledges the time and effort contributed by 

respondents from other federal agencies participating in the survey. It also gratefully welcomes their 

comments, which have improved the survey and its usefulness substantially. Comments on this report are 

welcome and should be submitted to the Commission at surveyffr@mmc.gov.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

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APPENDIX A: Previous Commission surveys

Previous Surveys of Federally-Funded Marine Mammal Research and Studies published by the National 

Technical Information Service, including publication numbers, years covered, report length, and 

publication year.

Publication number Fiscal years No. pages Publication year

PB81-174336 1970-1979 235 1981

PB81-242059 1970-1980 43 1981

PB82-227570 1970-1981 65 1982

PB83-262998 1970-1982 83 1983

PB84-215086 1970-1983 84 1984

PB85-225613 1970-1984 99 1985

PB86-235637 1970-1985 108 1986

PB87-217386 1970-1986 120 1987

PB88-212782 1970-1987 133 1988

PB90-104050 1970-1988 143 1989

PB90-272097 1970-1989 154 1990

PB91-212217 1974-1990 44 1991

PB92-190222 1974-1991 56 1992

PB93-227189 1974-1992 66 1993

PB94-195021 1974-1993 76 1994

PB95-238929 1974-1994 90 1995

PB97-104749 1974-1995 105 1996

PB98-148281 1974-1996 116 1998

PB98-121816 1974-1997 141 1998

PB99-171720 1974-1998 150 1999

N/A 1974-1999 174 2001

N/A 1974-2000 52 2002
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APPENDIX B: Common and scientific names

Common and scientific names for marine mammals included in this report. The list is based on the Society for 

Marine Mammology’s “List of Marine Mammal Species and Subspecies.”

22 The codes in parentheses are used to 

indicate that the species does not occur in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone around the continental U.S., Alaska, or 

Hawaii, but rather occurs in foreign (F) or international waters (I), or in the waters of U.S. territories (T).

Common name Scientific name Common name Scientific name

Amazonian manatee (F) Trichechus inunguis Long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas

Atlantic spotted dolphin Stenella frontalis Melon-headed whale Peponocephala electra

Atlantic white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus acutus Narwhal Monodon monoceros

Baiji (Yangtze river dolphin) (F) Lipotes vexillifer North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis

Baird’s beaked whale Berardius bairdii North Pacific right whale Eubalaena japonica

Bearded seal Erignathus barbatus Northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus

Beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas Northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris

Blainville’s beaked whale Mesoplodon densirostris Northern fur seal Callorhinus ursinus

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus Northern right whale dolphin Lissodelphis borealis

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus Pacific white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus obliquidens

Bryde’s whale Balaenoptera edeni Pantropical spotted dolphin Stenella attenuata

California sea lion Zalophus californianus/wollebaeki Polar bear Ursus maritimus

Clymene dolphin Stenella clymene Pygmy beaked whale Mesoplodon peruvianus

Common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus Pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata

Common minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata Pygmy sperm whale Kogia breviceps

Crabeater seal (F, I) Lobodon carcinophaga Ribbon seal Histriophoca fasciata

Cuvier’s beaked whale Ziphius cavirostris Ringed seal Pusa hispida

Dall’s porpoise Phocoenoides dalli Risso’s dolphin Grampus griseus

Dugong (F, T) Dugong dugon Rough-toothed dolphin Steno bredanensis

Dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima Sea otter Enhydra lutris

False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens Sei whale Balaenoptera borealis

Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus Short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis

Fraser’s dolphin Lagenodelphis hosei Short-finned pilot whale Globicephala macrorhynchus

Gervais’ beaked whale Mesoplodon europaeus South Asian river dolphin (F) Platanista gangetica

Gray seal Halichoerus grypus Southern elephant seal (F, I) Mirounga leonina

Gray whale Eschrichtius robustus Southern right whale (F, I) Eubalaena australis

Harbor seal Phoca vitulina Sowerby’s beaked whale Mesoplodon bidens

Harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus

Harp seal Pagophilus groenlandicus Spinner dolphin Stenella longirostris

Hawaiian monk seal Monachus schauinslandi Spotted seal Phoca largha

Hector’s dolphin (F) Cephalorhynchus hectori Steller sea lion Eumetopias jubatus

Hooded seal Cystophora cristata Steller's sea cow Hydrodamalis gigas

Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae Striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (F) Tursiops aduncus Vaquita (F) Phocoena sinus

Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (F) Neophocaena phocaenoides23 Walrus Odobenus rosmarus

Irrawaddy dolphin (F) Orcaella brevirostris Weddell seal Leptonychotes weddellii

Killer whale Orcinus orca West African manatee (F) Trichechus senegalensis

Long-beaked common dolphin Delphinus capensis West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus

 

22 Available at www.marinemammalscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=420&Itemid= 

280

23 The Society for Marine Mammalogy subsequently divided this species into two species, Neophocaena 

phocaenoides and Neophocaena asiaeorientalis.
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APPENDIX C: Quality-control/

quality-assurance procedures

After program managers had entered their data into the online data entry system, Commission staff 

downloaded the data into Microsoft Access tables, defined relationships among those tables, and queried 

them to ensure they were properly linked. They then extracted the funding amounts and created

histograms to examine funding distributions, paying particular attention to the distribution extremes. They

performed general checks on all projects entered and specific checks on just over 50 percent of the 

projects. To review all projects, Commission staff took the following general steps.

 Compared funding amounts entered for the total project against the sum of funding amounts 

entered for individual fiscal years, both for single-year and multi-year projects, to ensure that the 

checks programmed into the online data collection system functioned properly;

 Compared amounts reported by funding agencies against those reported by the performing 

organization to avoid double counting of funds;

 Reviewed all entries in text fields to ensure text entries were clear and comprehensible;

 Reviewed all information entered following selection of “other” from dropdown lists (such as 

those for funding agency, performing organization type, and objective) to ensure clarity in 

entries; and

 Reviewed the number of objectives entered by program managers and the distribution of funds 

between primary and secondary objectives to identify possible inconsistencies in data entry.

To review a project record in detail, Commission staff took the following specific steps.

 Cross-referenced all data entered for that record - including the project objective, focal species, 

and geographic location – and compared that information with the project title and summary to 

ensure that the data were consistent and accurately described the project;

 Reviewed the information regarding the funding agency to ensure it provided sufficient detail to 

allow the Commission to use the information in its analyses and to consider whether changes 

were needed in survey dropdown lists;

 Compared data fields where program managers could either enter data in a text field or select 

from a dropdown list to ensure data consistency, particularly with regard to the performing 

organization;

 Compared keywords typed describing project methods with the objective(s) selected and project 

summary entered to ensure consistency;

 Compared the nature of the project with the option selected from the research site/project type 

dropdown list (e.g., fieldwork, laboratory work, modeling, data analyses only, etc.) to ensure 

consistency and to identify the possible additions to the dropdown list;

 Compared the focal species selected with the project location and summary to ensure consistency 

and to determine how program managers were using the “all marine mammals” option; and

 Reviewed the selection of “other” from dropdown lists, such as that for project objective.

Commission staff identified few cases where entered data seemed to be in error. In all those 

cases, it then consulted with the program manager to resolve the apparent discrepancy before making any

necessary adjustments.
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APPENDIX D: Projects and funding levels by agency for fiscal year 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Department of Commerce 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

Alaska Regional Office ........................................................................................................................ 32

Northeast Regional Office .................................................................................................................. 36

Pacific Islands Regional Office ........................................................................................................... 40

Northwest Regional Office ................................................................................................................. 40

Southeast Regional Office .................................................................................................................. 41

Southwest Regional Office ................................................................................................................. 42

Alaska Fisheries Science Center......................................................................................................... 42

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center ........................................................................................... 43

Southwest Fisheries Science Center .................................................................................................. 44

Southeast Fisheries Science Center ................................................................................................... 46

Northeast Fisheries Science Center ................................................................................................... 47

Northwest Fisheries Science Center .................................................................................................. 48

Office of Science and Technology ...................................................................................................... 49

Office of Protected Resources ............................................................................................................ 49

National Ocean Service 

Office of National Marine Sanctuaries ............................................................................................. 50

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science .................................................................................... 52

Coastal Services Center ...................................................................................................................... 53

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 

Ocean Exploration and Research ...................................................................................................... 54

Sea Grant Program ............................................................................................................................. 54
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

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Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research..................................................................................................................... 55

Chief of Naval Operations – Naval Air Systems Command ........................................................... 72

Chief of Naval Operations – N45........................................................................................................ 73

Atlantic Fleet Forces Command......................................................................................................... 76

Pacific Fleet.......................................................................................................................................... 77

Department of the Army

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers .......................................................................................................... 78

Department of the Air Force ......................................................................................................................... 80

Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey .................................................................................................................................. 80

Minerals Management Service...................................................................................................................... 85

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ...................................................................................................................... 88

National Park Service ................................................................................................................................... 90

Department of Health and Human Services

National Institutes of Health ........................................................................................................................ 92

Smithsonian Institution........................................................................................................................................... 93

National Science Foundation.................................................................................................................................. 93

Marine Mammal Commission................................................................................................................................ 96

North Pacific Research Board.............................................................................................................................. 100

National Aeronautics and Space Administration ............................................................................................... 101
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 32

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Alaska Regional Office

Alaska SeaLife Center 

Pinniped Research Program

Alaska SeaLife Center $2,956,000 $2,956,000 Chiswell Island, Kenai 

Fjords, Gulf of Alaska; Kuril 

Islands and Kamchatka 

Peninsula, Russian Far East

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Investigations of marine 

mammals in Alaska

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$2,455,000 $2,455,000 Southeast Alaska, Prince 

William Sound, Kodiak 

area/Tugidak Island, Bering, 

Chukchi, and Beaufort Sea 

ecosystems (villages of Point 

Hope, Shishmaref, Diomede, 

Savoonga, Gambell, and 

Hooper Bay).

Ecology–Habitat

Bowhead whale comanagement activitiesAlaska Eskimo Whaling 

Commission

$723,000 $723,000 Arctic Ocean (Chukchi and 

Beaufort Seas)

Harvest/co-management

Kenai Peninsula borough 

Cook Inlet beluga whale 

recovery study

Kenai Peninsula Borough $700,000 $700,000 Cook Inlet, Alaska Ecology–Habitat

North Pacific Universities 

Marine Mammal Research 

Consortium marine mammal 

research

North Pacific Universities 

Marine Mammal Research 

Consortium

$483,000 $483,000 Studies will take place at two 

research facilities: the 

Marine Mammal Species at 

Risk Centre and the Open 

Water Research Laboratory 

at the University of British 

Columbia.

General biology–

Feeding/diet

 

24 The primary project objective format is General category—Sub-category (text if other). The general and sub-categories are listed in Table 1. If the ‘other’ 

option was selected for either the general or sub-category, then the text entered by the program manager describing the primary project objective is shown in 

parentheses.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 33

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Alaska Regional Office (continued)

Gulf Apex Predator-prey 

(GAP) 09: whales as sentinels 

in a changing environment

University of Alaska 

Fairbanks

$482,000 $482,000 Gulf of Alaska Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

North Slope Borough 

bowhead whale activities

North Slope Borough $425,000 $425,000 Arctic Ocean (Chukchi and 

Beaufort Seas)

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Alaska SeaLife Center Marine 

Mammal Stranding Program

Alaska SeaLife Center $326,000 $326,000 All Alaskan waters 

(rehabilitation to occur at 

SeaLife Center facility in 

Seward)

Animal health–Stranding 

response

Steller sea lion comanagement activitiesThe Alaska Sea Otter and 

Steller Sea Lion Commission

$300,000 $300,000 Alaskan waters (organization 

based in Kodiak)

Harvest/co-management

Preparation of economic 

analysis for critical habitat 

designation of Cook Inlet 

belugas

Entrix $226,492 $226,492 Cook Inlet, Alaska Other (economic analysis)

Cook Inlet beluga whale 

recovery activities

URS Corporation $224,820 $224,820 Cook Inlet, Alaska Other (recovery activities/ 

management)

Alaska beluga whale comanagement activitiesAlaska Beluga Whale 

Commission

$218,000 $218,000 Bering, Chukchi and 

Beaufort Seas

Harvest/co-management

Harbor seal co-management 

activities

The Alaska Native Harbor 

Seal Commission

$195,000 $195,000 Alaskan waters, southeast 

Alaska through Bristol Bay 

(northern edge of range)

Harvest/co-management

Aleutian Islands marine 

mammal co-management 

activities

Aleut Marine Mammal 

Commission

$143,000 $143,000 Aleutian Islands and 

surrounding waters, Bering 

Sea and Gulf of Alaska

Harvest/co-management
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 34

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Alaska Regional Office (continued)

St. Paul Island comanagement activitiesSt. Paul Tribal Government $143,000 $143,000 St. Paul Island, Pribilof 

Islands, Bering Sea

Harvest/co-management

Steller sea lion Russian 

branding/re-sight efforts

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$110,000 $110,000 Russian Far East, North 

Pacific coast

General biology–Other 

(vital rates)

St. George Island comanagement activitiesTraditional Council of St. 

George

$90,000 $90,000 St. George Island, Pribilof 

Islands, Bering Sea

Harvest/co-management

Post-doctoral research on 

Cook Inlet beluga acoustics

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$75,000 $150,000 Cook Inlet, Alaska General biology–

Bioacoustics

Ice seal co-management 

activities

Ice Seal Committee via North 

Slope Borough

$60,000 $60,000 Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean Harvest/co-management

Bearded and ringed seal 

database development

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$50,000 $50,000 Fairbanks, Alaska Literature review/data 

synthesis

Stranding flight support National Business Center $50,000 $50,000 All Alaskan waters Animal health–Stranding 

response

Cook Inlet beluga toxicology 

study

URS Corporation $50,000 $50,000 Cook Inlet, Alaska Animal health–Other 

(toxicology)

Bristol Bay marine mammal 

co-management activities

Bristol Bay Native 

Association

$48,000 $48,000 Bristol Bay, Alaska Harvest/co-management

Alaska stranding program 

assistant and data manager

Individual $44,728 $44,728 All Alaskan waters (position 

located in Juneau)

Animal health–Stranding 

response

Necropsy and histology 

analysis of stranded marine 

mammals in Alaska

Alaska Veterinary Pathology 

Services

$40,000 $40,000 All Alaskan waters (analysis 

in Anchorage)

Animal health–Necropsies
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 35

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Alaska Regional Office (continued)

Steller sea lion aerial surveys Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$40,000 $40,000 Southern portion of Steller 

sea lion range in Pacific

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Cook Inlet beluga stomach 

content analysis

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$37,000 $37,000 Cook Inlet, Alaska (analysis 

in Fairbanks)

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Bering Strait marine mammal 

acoustic study

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$25,000 $25,000 Nome, Bering Strait, Alaska Ecology–Habitat

Cook Inlet beluga critical 

habitat proposed rule support

URS Corporation $25,000 $25,000 Cook Inlet, Alaska Ecology–Habitat

Alaska marine mammal 

observer program statistical 

design: southeast Alaska drift 

gillnet fishery

Western ecosystems $24,992 $24,992 Southeast Alaska Fishery interactions–

Bycatch and entanglement 

estimation

Fin whale tagging research Cascadia Research Collective $24,500 $24,500 North of Point Conception, 

California

Ecology–Habitat

Fatty acid analysis of ice seal 

diet near Kotzebue

Native village of Kotzebue $24,110 $24,110 Kotzebue, Alaska (Bering 

and Chukchi Seas)

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Diet assessment of Steller sea 

lions in southeast Alaska

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$21,250 $21,250 Target animals from 

southeast Alaska (project 

analysis in Fairbanks)

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Cook Inlet beluga diet by 

isotope analysis

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$20,000 $20,000 Cook Inlet, Alaska (analysis 

in Fairbanks)

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Ecology, status and stock 

identity of belugas near 

Yakutat

Yakutat Salmon Board $19,930 $19,930 Yakutat Bay (Yakutat, 

Alaska)

Ecology–Habitat
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 36

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Alaska Regional Office (continued)

Assessment/evaluation of old 

clinic building

Origin technical services $17,800 $17,800 St. Paul Island, Alaska Other (facilities/property 

maintenance)

Steller sea lion stock structure 

and abundance research

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$8,000 $8,000 Work concentrated near the 

144o stock boundary at Cape 

Suckling

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Building maintenance and 

oversight

Tribal Government of St. Paul $7,000 $7,000 St. Paul Island, Bering Sea Other (facilities)

Monitoring vessel and whale 

interactions

North Gulf Oceanic Society $3,750 $3,750 Kenai Fjords National Park 

and Resurrection Bay, 

Alaska

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Ecotourism, 

whale watching or "swimwith" programs

Caretaker services Individual $2,500 $2,500 St. George Island, Bering 

Sea

Other (facilities)

Northeast Regional Office 

Groundline exchange/

conversion plan – 2009

Commercial Fisheries 

Research Foundation

$3,000,000 $3,000,000 Lobster management area 2 

(Rhode Island residents), and 

lobster management area 3

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Maine fishing gear exchange 

and research program

Maine Department of Marine 

Resources

$1,700,000 $1,700,000 Coastal waters of Maine Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Consortium for wildlife 

bycatch reduction

New England Aquarium $1,248,750 $1,248,750 Various locations within the 

United States

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

NOAA Fisheries Northeast 

Region vertical line model 

contract

Industrial Economics, Inc. $140,000 $280,000 Analyses took place at 

Industrial Economics office 

in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 37

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Northeast Regional Office (continued)

Development of a reversing 

or "thwartable" bottom link 

system

NOAA Fisheries $102,000 $102,000 NOAA Fisheries field office, 

North Kingstown, Rhode 

Island

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Large whale entanglement 

mitigation gear research 

projects

Pemaquid Fishermen's 

Cooperative

$91,500 $91,500 Project 1 (Evaluation of 

fixed gear fishing with no 

vertical lines): Gulf of 

Maine, Jeffrey's Ledge. 

Project 2 (at-sea testing of a 

reversing or "thwartable" 

bottom link system): off 

Pemaquid Point, Maine

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Gray whale photoidentificationAlaska Fisheries Science 

Center, National Marine 

Mammal Laboratory

$75,000 $75,000 Pacific Northwest Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

NOAA Fisheries joint 

enforcement agreement funds 

for the state of Maine

Maine Marine Patrol $70,000 $70,000 Coastal waters of Maine Other (enforcement)

Trap gear fishing without the 

use of vertical lines

Skilligalee, Inc. $60,000 $60,000 Mid-Atlantic region east of 

Ocean City, Maryland

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Soundwatch Boater Education 

Program

Soundwatch Boater Education 

Program at The Whale 

Museum

$45,000 $45,000 Inland waters of the United 

States (including Puget 

Sound)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Ecotourism, 

whale watching or "swimwith" programs
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 38

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Northeast Regional Office (continued)

Maine Department of Marine 

Resources stranding program

Maine Department of Marine 

Resources

$30,000 $30,000 Maine stranding network 

member, University of New 

England, and Mystic 

Aquarium, in Connecticut

Animal health–Other 

(rehabilitation)

NOAA Fisheries joint 

enforcement agreement funds 

for the Commonwealth of 

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Environmental 

Police

$30,000 $30,000 Coastal waters of 

Massachusetts

Other (enforcement)

NOAA Fisheries joint 

enforcement agreement funds 

for the state of Rhode Island

Rhode Island Department of 

Environmental Management

$30,000 $30,000 Coastal waters of Rhode 

Island

Other (enforcement)

Massachusetts large whale 

conservation program

Massachusetts Division of 

Marine Fisheries

$25,000 $25,000 Massachusetts state waters 

and adjacent waters

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Killer whale tales Killer Whale Tales $20,000 $20,000 Pacific Northwest Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Commercial fishing line 

radio-frequency identification 

tagging study

Stigall Consulting Group, 

LLC

$18,000 $18,000 Laboratory in Kentucky; 

some field observations off 

the Maryland coast

Fishery interactions–Other 

(gear marking project)

Improving the capacity for 

gear removal, retrieval and 

identification

NOAA Fisheries $17,000 $17,000 Workshop to be held at the 

New Bedford Whaling 

Museum, New Bedford, 

Massachusetts on November 

1-2, 2010

Fishery interactions–Other 

(large whale

disentanglement)

Disentanglement efforts in 

Florida

Florida Fish and Wildlife 

Conservation Commission

$10,000 $10,000 Waters off the coast of 

Florida

Fishery interactions–Other 

(disentanglement efforts)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 39

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Northeast Regional Office (continued)

Disentanglement efforts in 

Georgia

Georgia Department of 

Natural Resources

$10,000 $10,000 Waters off the coast of 

Georgia

Fishery interactions–Other 

(disentanglement efforts)

NOAA Fisheries joint 

enforcement agreement funds 

for New Hampshire state

New Hampshire Department 

of Fish and Game

$10,000 $10,000 Coastal waters of New 

Hampshire

Other (enforcement)

NOAA Fisheries joint 

enforcement agreement funds 

for the state of New Jersey

New Jersey Department of 

Fish, Game and Wildlife

$10,000 $10,000 Coastal waters of New Jersey Other (enforcement)

Northeast Region Marine 

Mammal Program outreach 

and education

NOAA Fisheries Northeast 

Region, Protected Resources 

Division

$10,000 $10,000 NOAA Fisheries Northeast 

Regional Office, Gloucester, 

Massachusetts, and 

distribution throughout the 

U.S. East Coast

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Maine large whale 

disentanglement response

Maine Department of Marine 

Resources

$5,000 $25,000 Coastal Gulf of Maine waters Fishery interactions–Other 

(large whale 

disentanglement response)

2009 Northeast Region 

Marine Mammal and Sea 

Turtle Stranding Network 

Conference

New England Aquarium $2,000 $2,000 Conference was held in 

Salem, Massachusetts from 

March 27-29, 2009

Animal health–Stranding 

response

Massachusetts large whale 

conservation program

Provincetown Center for 

Coastal Studies

$025 $700,000 Cape Cod Bay, 

Massachusetts, and adjacent 

waters

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

 

25 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 40

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service (continued)

Pacific Islands Regional Office

Monk seal conservation and 

management

National Marine Fisheries 

Service Pacific Islands 

Regional Office

$1,911,421 $1,911,421 State of Hawaii Animal health–Other 

(monk seal recovery)

Cetacean conservation and 

management

National Marine Fisheries 

Service Pacific Islands 

Regional Office

$353,206 $353,206 State of Hawaii Animal health–Other 

(cetacean conservation and 

recovery actions)

Northwest Regional Office 

Bonneville Dam pinniped 

deterrence

Washington and Oregon 

Departments of Fish and 

Wildlife

$300,000 $300,000 Bonneville Dam, Columbia 

River

Other (reducing conflict 

between humans and 

pinnipeds)

Orca Family Center and 

outreach materials

Seattle Aquarium $30,000 $30,000 Seattle Aquarium Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Harbor seal stock assessment 

in Oregon

Oregon Department of Fish 

and Wildlife

$25,000 $25,000 Oregon state waters Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Harbor seal stock assessment Washington Department of 

Fish and Wildlife

$25,000 $25,000 Coastal and inland waters of 

Washington

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Killer whale stranding 

response

University of California Davis $20,000 $20,000 U.S. West Coast with 

primary focus on 

Washington and Oregon 

coasts

Animal health–Stranding 

response
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 41

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Northwest Regional Office (continued)

Washington Department of 

Fish and Wildlife outreach 

and enforcement

Washington Department of 

Fish and Wildlife

$15,000 $15,000 Washington state waters, 

primarily inland waters 

including Puget Sound

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Ecotourism, 

whale watching or "swimwith" programs

The Whale Museum orca 

outreach and education

The Whale Museum $14,400 $14,400 The Whale Museum, Friday 

Harbor, Washington

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

The Whale Trail The Whale Trail $7,500 $7,500 Pacific Northwest Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Lessening negative 

interactions between 

pinnipeds and sport fisheries 

in Rogue River, Oregon

Port of Gold Beach $5,000 $5,000 Rogue River, Port of Gold 

Beach, Oregon

Other (lessening negative 

interactions between 

pinnipeds and sport 

fisheries)

Springer killer whale 

curriculum

Alaska Fisheries Science 

Center, National Marine 

Mammal Laboratory

$2,500 $2,500 Schools in Seattle, 

Washington, and surrounding 

area

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Southeast Regional Office 

Outreach to commercial 

fishermen about take 

reduction plans in southeast 

United States

Individual $17,319 $80,000 North Carolina through 

Florida's east coast

Education and outreach/ 

engagement
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 42

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Southeast Regional Office (continued)

Interactions between pilot 

whales and the Atlantic 

pelagic longline fishery in the 

Mid-Atlantic Bight

Duke University $026 $20,000 Cape Hatteras special 

research area

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Southeast region human 

interaction workshop

The Ocean Conservancy $0 $20,000 Savannah, Georgia Other (illegal dolphin 

feeding, dolphin 

depredation and 

scavenging)

Southwest Regional Office 

Photo identification of fin 

whales along the U.S. West 

Coast and Canada from 

historical collections –

preliminary catalogue 

development

Cascadia Research Collective $2,500 $17,983 North Pacific Ocean 

(California, Oregon, 

Washington, Northern 

British Columbia, and 

Southeast Alaska)

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Steller sea lion and northern 

fur seal assessment

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$3,979,300 $3,979,300 Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian 

Islands, Pribilof Islands, 

southeast Alaska

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Polar seal assessment and 

ecology

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$2,192,400 $2,192,400 Bering and Chukchi Seas for 

ice seals; southeast Alaska, 

Gulf of Alaska, and Bering 

Sea for harbor seals

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

 

26 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 43

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Alaska Fisheries Science Center (continued)

Alaska cetacean assessment 

and ecology

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$2,180,100 $2,180,100 Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, 

Arctic

Stock assessment/

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

California Current marine 

mammal assessment and 

ecology

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$1,324,700 $1,324,700 California (San Miguel 

Island), Washington/Oregon 

outer coasts

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Alaska Steller sea lion survey Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$32,000 $32,000 Coastal Alaska Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center 

Hawaiian monk seal research 

program

National Marine Fisheries 

Service Pacific Islands 

Fisheries Science Center

$3,898,000 $3,898,000 Hawaiian archipelago Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Long-term acoustic 

monitoring of cetaceans at 

remote atolls

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$61,000 $61,000 Wake Atoll Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Movement patterns of false 

killer whales in Hawaii

Cascadia Research Collective $55,344 $55,344 Main Hawaiian Islands Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 44

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service (continued)

Southwest Fisheries Science Center

Ecosystem survey of 

Delphinus species

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$402,000 $622,000 Coastal waters from San 

Francisco to Baja California.

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Oregon, California,

Washington line transect 

expedition wrap-up

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$297,000 $297,000 U.S. West Coast Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Identification of population 

structure at the evolutionary 

level and the demographic 

level utilizing molecular 

techniques

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$252,000 $252,000 Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Satellite tagging on Atlantic 

undersea test and evaluation 

center range

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$100,000 $100,000 Bahamas, waters near Great 

Abaco Island, Atlantic 

Undersea Test and 

Evaluation Center range

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Harbor seal, California Steller 

sea lion, and California sea 

lion aerial surveys

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$90,000 $90,000 California coast Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Eastern/western gray whale 

analysis

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$80,000 $80,000 Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

Literature review/data 

synthesis

Development of digital 

imaging systems for marine 

mammal assessments

Aerial Imaging Solutions $75,000 $425,000 Old Lyme, Connecticut Technological 

development–Other 

(developing digital imaging 

systems for aerial survey 

photogrammetry)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 45

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Southwest Fisheries Science Center (continued)

Vaquita expedition Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$68,000 $68,000 Gulf of California Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Gray whale survey Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$38,000 $38,000 Central California coast Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Eastern tropical Pacific 

dolphin kinematics

Ocean Associates Inc. $30,000 $30,000 Long Marine Laboratory, 

University of California 

Santa Cruz

General biology–Other 

(kinematics)

Tursiops abundance Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$30,000 $30,000 Coastal Southern California Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Humpback whale status 

review

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$30,000 $30,000 Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

PAMGUARD testing Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$24,000 $24,000 Pacific Ocean Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Testing of spatial structure 

methods

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$20,000 $20,000 Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

Technological 

development–Other 

(package in R programming 

language: "Testing of 

Spatial Structure Methods”)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 46

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service (continued)

Southeast Fisheries Science Center

Marine mammal molecular 

genetics program

Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$410,000 $410,000 Western North Atlantic 

Ocean, northern (U.S.) Gulf 

of Mexico

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Marine mammal stranding 

program

Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$360,000 $360,000 U.S. Atlantic coast south of 

Maryland, U.S. Gulf of 

Mexico coast, Puerto Rico 

and Virgin Islands coasts

Fishery interactions–

Indirect fishery interactions

Cetacean abundance and 

distribution survey of the 

oceanic Gulf of Mexico

Southeast Fisheries Science

Center

$270,000 $270,000 Gulf of Mexico, U.S. waters 

greater than 200 m deep

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Inshore and coastal bottlenose 

dolphin assessment

Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$230,000 $230,000 Coastal waters <20m deep 

and inshore waters (i.e., 

bays, sounds and estuaries) 

of the U.S. Atlantic south of 

New York City, U.S. Gulf of 

Mexico and Puerto Rico and 

U.S. Virgin Islands.

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Marine mammal bycatch Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$175,000 $175,000 North Atlantic Ocean Fishery interactions–

Bycatch and entanglement 

estimation
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 47

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Northeast Fisheries Science Center

North Atlantic right whale 

sighting survey

Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$292,259 $292,259 New England coastal and 

offshore waters

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Right whale catalog New England Aquarium $261,864 $261,864 Northwest Atlantic Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Right whale scarification 

analysis

New England Aquarium $195,825 $195,825 Northwest Atlantic Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment

Right whale sighting database 

maintenance

University of Rhode Island $135,000 $135,000 U.S. Atlantic coast and 

adjacent Canada

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Stock assessment Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$102,399 $102,399 All U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of 

Mexico waters

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Cetacean and turtle 

abundance cruise (HB0903)

Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$62,511 $62,511 Area within the U.S. 

Exclusive Economic Zone, 

North of 37° N latitude, to 

the southern portions of 

Georges Bank that is south of 

41°N and between 

approximately the 100 and 

4000 m depth contours

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Humpback whale 

scarification analysis

Provincetown Center for 

Coastal Studies

$54,345 $54,345 Northwest Atlantic Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 48

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Northeast Fisheries Science Center (continued)

Passive acoustics cruise 

(DE0907)

Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$51,793 $51,793 Gulf of Maine General biology–

Bioacoustics

Odontocete stock structure 

cruise (DE0906)

Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$48,947 $48,947 U.S. Exclusive Economic 

Zone between 35oN and 

44.5oN, including Georges 

Bank and the Gulf of Maine, 

to the Nova Scotia Shelf

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Hawaiian humpback sightings 

data rescue

Integrated statistics $4,018 $4,018 Hawaii General biology–Social 

behavior

Line transect data simulation Integrated statistics $3,483 $3,483 Not applicable Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Southern resident killer whale 

research

Northwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$748,300 $748,300 Puget Sound to central 

California

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Endangered Species Act 

species

Northwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$102,000 $102,000 U.S. West Coast Ecology–Habitat

Marine Mammal Protection 

Act – southern resident killer 

whale

Northwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$92,500 $92,500 Puget Sound Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment

Stock assessment 

improvement

Northwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$68,000 $68,000 U.S. West Coast and Hawaii Technological 

development–Tags
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 49

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service (continued)

Office of Science and Technology 

Fisheries National Observer 

Program

National Marine Fisheries 

Service Office of Science and 

Technology

$1,029,093 $1,029,093 U.S. Atlantic, Gulf of 

Mexico, and Pacific 

exclusive economic zone, 

including international 

waters.

Fishery interactions–

Indirect fishery interactions

Noise impacts on marine 

mammals

NOAA Fisheries Office of 

Science and Technology

$848,000 $848,000 Bahamas deep water canyons 

of the northern Bahamas, 

including the Tongue of the 

Ocean east of Andros Island, 

site of the U.S. Navy’s 

Atlantic undersea test and 

evaluation center where 

sonars are in regular use

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Anthropogenic sound effects 

on the acoustic signals and 

behavior of southern resident 

killer whales

Marine Mammal Ecology 

Team, Northwest Fisheries 

Science Center

$25,000 $25,000 Waters surrounding San Juan 

Islands, Washington /

southeast Vancouver Island

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Shipping, other 

non-military vessel 

operations – acoustic

Office of Protected Resources 

Prescott Grant Program National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$3,936,496 $3,936,496 U.S. coasts and Exclusive 

Economic Zone 

Animal health

Marine mammal permits and 

authorizations

National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$2,822,000 $2,822,000 U.S. Exclusive Economic 

Zone – all coasts

Other (permits, 

authorizations, outreach)

Marine Mammal Health and 

Stranding Response Program

National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$2,605,000 $2,605,000 U.S. coasts and Exclusive 

Economic Zone

Other (stranding response, 

rehabilitation, health 

assessment)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 50

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service

Office of Protected Resources (continued)

Marine Mammal 

Conservation Programs

National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$1,484,000 $1,484,000 U.S. coasts and Exclusive 

Economic Zone

Other (stock assessment, 

fishery interactions, 

acoustics, conservation, 

increasing pinniped 

populations)

Threatened and endangered 

marine mammal conservation

and recovery

National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$600,000 $600,000 U.S. coasts and Exclusive 

Economic zone

Other (consultation, 

recovery, listing actions, 

cooperative conservation)

North Atlantic Right Whale 

Program

National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$489,000 $489,000 U.S. East Coast and 

Exclusive Economic zone

Other (conservation 

activities)

National Ocean Service

Office of National Marine Sanctuaries 

Hawaiian Islands Humpback 

Whale National Marine 

Sanctuary

Hawaiian Islands Humpback 

Whale National Marine 

Sanctuary

$1,519,900 $1,519,900 Hawaii Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Beach watch Gulf of the Farallones 

National Marine Sanctuary

$180,000 $180,000 Shoreline, Bodega Head in 

Sonoma County, California, 

south to Año Nuevo, San 

Mateo County, California. 

Does not include San 

Francisco Bay.

Ecology–Other (relative/ 

local abundance and 

distribution, mortality 

events)

Sanctuary ecosystem 

assessment surveys

Gulf of the Farallones 

National Marine Sanctuary

$126,000 $126,000 Gulf of the Farallones region, 

including Gulf of the 

Farallones and Monterey Bay 

National Marine Sanctuaries

Ecology–Other (marine 

mammals, seabirds, 

productivity, oceanography, 

human pressures)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 51

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Ocean Service

Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (continued)

Applied California Current 

ecosystem studies

PRBO Conservation Science, 

Cordell Bank and Gulf of 

Farallones National Marine 

Sanctuary

$99,000 $99,000 Central and northern 

California between Half 

Moon Bay and Bodega Bay

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

Seal predation and shark 

spatial dynamics at French 

Frigate Shoals

University of Hawaii –

Hawaii Institute of Marine 

Biology

$77,000 $137,000 French Frigate Shoals, 

Northwestern Hawaiian 

Islands, Papahānaumokuākea 

Marine National Monument, 

Hawaii

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

American Samoa cetacean 

survey

Hawaiian Islands Humpback 

Whale / Fagatele Bay 

National Marine Sanctuary

$30,000 $30,000 Tutuila, American Samoa Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Underwater behavior of 

endangered whales identified 

via multi-sensor tag

Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

$5,000 $25,000 Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Shipping, other 

non-military vessel 

operations – vessel 

collisions

North Atlantic Right Whale 

Recovery Plan Southeast U.S. 

Implementation Team

NOAA Gray's Reef National 

Marine Sanctuary

$2,000 $2,000 North Myrtle Beach, South 

Carolina to Cape Canaveral, 

Florida

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Aerial surveys Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary

In-kind support for surveys, 

staff time, exact total 

unknown for fiscal year 2009 

and total funding

Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary, Santa 

Barbara Channel

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 52

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Ocean Service

Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (continued)

Ship strike management and 

policy coordination

Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary

In-kind support for staff 

time, exact total unknown for 

fiscal year 2009 and total 

funding

Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary, Santa 

Barbara Channel

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Shipping, other 

non-military vessel 

operations – vessel 

collisions

Collaboration with John 

Hildebrand: Scripps 

Institution of Oceanography 

acoustics project

Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary and Scripps 

Institution of Oceanography

In-kind support for vessel 

survey, crew and staff time, 

exact total unknown for 

fiscal year 2009 and total 

funding

Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary, Santa 

Barbara Channel

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Shipping, other 

non-military vessel 

operations – acoustic

Collaboration with John 

Calambokidis: study of whale 

distribution and abundance

Channel Islands National 

Marine Sanctuary, Cascadia 

Research

In-kind support for staff 

time, exact total unknown for 

fiscal year 2009 and total 

funding

U.S. West Coast – this 

portion in Channel Islands 

National Marine Sanctuary, 

Santa Barbara Channel, and 

Southern California Bight

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Coastal ocean marine 

mammal and bird education 

and research surveys (Beach 

Combers)

Moss Landing Marine 

Laboratories

In-kind support for staff 

time, exact total unknown for 

fiscal year 2009 and total 

funding

Monterey Bay, Carmel Bay, 

Cambria, and Big Sur, 

California

Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science 

Coastal marine mammal 

stranding assessments 

program

Center for Coastal 

Environmental Health and 

Biomolecular Research

$307,964 $307,964 North Carolina, South

Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 

Gulf of Mexico

Animal health–Disease

Dolphin health and risk 

assessment project

Center for Coastal 

Environmental Health and 

Biomolecular Research at 

Charleston, South Carolina

$300,000 $300,000 Charleston, South Carolina Animal health–Diagnostics
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 53

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce

National Ocean Service

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (continued)

Georgia dolphin health 

assessment

National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration

$250,000 $250,000 Southern Georgia coast; 

Doboy Sound and waters 

near Sapelo Island southwest 

to Jekyll Sound and Turtle /

Brunswick Estuary

Animal health–

Contaminants

Coastal Services Center

Sea otter contaminant report NOAA Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary

$5,800 $6,000 Olympic Coast National 

Marine Sanctuary, 

Washington state

Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment

Sea otter surveys NOAA Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary

$2,700 $2,700 Olympic Coast National 

Marine Sanctuary, 

Washington state

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Northwest Marine Mammal 

Stranding Network

NOAA Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary

$1,500 $1,500 Olympic Coast National 

Marine Sanctuary in 

Washington state

Animal health–Stranding 

response

Sea otter stranding program NOAA Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary

$1,500 $1,500 Olympic Coast National 

Marine Sanctuary in 

Washington state

Animal health–Stranding 

response

Marine mammal training NOAA Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary

$1,000 $1,000 Coastal waters of 

Washington state

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Marine mammal permits from 

the Sanctuary

NOAA Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary

$450 $450 Olympic Coast National 

Marine Sanctuary in 

Washington state

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other 

(state/federal agencies for 

an otherwise sanctuaryprohibited activity)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 54

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Commerce (continued)

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 

Ocean Exploration and Research 

A low-cost roving 

oceanographic acoustic array 

for the northeast Pacific –

expanding the role of the 

elephant seal as an 

oceanographic sampler

Fisheries Ecology Division, 

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$108,355 $169,262 Santa Cruz, California; Año 

Nuevo, North Pacific

Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Northern pinniped roles as 

bioprobes

Institute of Marine Science, 

University of Alaska 

Fairbanks

$99,976 $99,976 St. Paul/St. George Islands, 

Alaska; Bering Sea.

Technological 

development–Tags

Development of a miniature 

oceanographic data recorder 

that can be carried by marine 

mammals and other pelagic 

species

Department of Marine 

Biology, Texas A&M 

University at Galveston

$99,930 $99,930 Galveston, Texas; Antarctica. Technological 

development/Tags

Sea Grant Program

Whales and waves: 

zooplankton accumulation, 

fish and humpback whale 

foraging

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$73,045 $151,703 Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine sanctuary

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 55

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research 

Marine mammals: hearing 

and echolocation at Coconut 

Island

University of Hawaii Institute 

of Marine Biology

$1,445,000 $2,213,350 All marine environments General biology–

Bioacoustics

Passive autonomous acoustic 

monitoring of marine 

mammals: proof-of-concept 

demonstration

Ocean Acoustical Services 

and Instrumentation Systems, 

Inc. 

$677,000 $2,942,921 Littoral water environments Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

ESME Workbench 

Innovations

Boston University $612,277 $1,244,277 Not applicable (modeling 

project)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (models 

all sound sources)

Behavioral responses of 

odontocetes to playback of 

anthropogenic and natural 

sounds

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$573,659 $1,835,659 Tongue of the Ocean off the 

Bahamas

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (military, 

killer whale, and pseudorandom noise)

Deep diving cetacean 

behavioral response study in 

the Mediterranean Sea 

(MED 09)

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command System 

Center Pacific

$558,154 $558,154 Alboran Sea and western 

Mediterranean Sea waters

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Radar-based detection, 

tracking, and speciation of 

marine mammals from shipbased platforms

Arete Associates $512,000 $2,338,082 All marine environments Technological 

development–Animal 

detection (e.g., infrared, 

radar, satellites, etc.)

Mid-frequency sonar 

interactions with beaked 

whales

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institute

$434,000 $1,267,599 Not applicable (experiment 

using stranded/bycaught 

dead beaked whales to create 

finite element models)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 56

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Acoustic detection, behavior, 

and habitat use of deep-diving 

odontocetes

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$431,000 $1,322,438 Marine waters around 

Canary Islands

Ecology–Habitat

Improved satellite-monitored 

radio tags for large whales: 

dependable ARGOS locationonly tags and a GPS-linked 

ARGOS tag to reveal 3-

dimensional body-orientation 

and surface movements

Oregon State University $397,224 $998,224 All marine waters Technological 

development–Tags

Development and validation 

of a mobile, autonomous, 

broadband passive acoustic 

monitoring system for marine 

mammals

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$393,000 $1,110,430 All marine environments Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Factors influencing the 

acoustic behavior and 

nearshore residence of the 

gray whale (Eschrichtius 

robustus) along their 

migration route

Oregon State University $390,000 $627,000 Marine waters off the Oregon 

coast

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Effects of sound on the 

marine environment

Heat, Light, and Sound 

Research, Inc.

$373,000 $758,000 Modeling of all marine 

environments

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (all 

sound sources)

An ocean observing system 

for large scale monitoring and 

mapping of noise within the 

Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

Bioacoustic Research 

Program; Cornell University

$323,400 $1,210,404 Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Shipping, other 

non-military vessel 

operations – acoustic
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 57

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Tagging and playback studies 

to toothed whales

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$313,655 $912,655 Atlantic Undersea Test and 

Evaluation Center, 

Mediterranean Sea, Alboran 

Sea (possible locations)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (military, 

natural, pseudo-random 

noise, and anthropogenic 

sounds)

Auditory weighting functions 

and frequency-dependent 

effects of sound in bottlenose 

dolphins

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command System 

Center Pacific

$305,000 $925,000 Not applicable (experiment 

at Navy facility)

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Beaked whale presence, 

habitat, and sound production 

in the North Pacific Ocean

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$295,432 $485,432 Marine waters in the North 

Pacific Ocean

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Behavioral response of 

dolphins to signals simulating 

mid-frequency active sonar

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command System 

Center Pacific

$268,800 $449,800 Not applicable (experiment 

at Navy facility)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Behavior and distribution of 

beaked whales: development 

of mitigation methods for 

responses to sonars

University of St Andrews $250,000 $701,080 Tongue of the Ocean off the 

Bahamas

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Virtual experiments in marine 

bioacoustics: whales, fish, and 

anthropogenic sound

Quantitative Morphology 

Consulting

$249,454 $788,454 Not applicable (modeling 

experiment using dead 

animals)

General biology–

Bioacoustics

The effects of noise and tonal 

stimuli on pinniped hearing

University of California Santa 

Cruz

$225,000 $1,843,752 Not applicable (work on 

captive animals)

General biology–

Bioacoustics
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 58

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Cumulative and synergistic 

effects of physical, biological, 

and acoustic signals on 

marine mammal behavior and 

habitat use

Pennsylvania State Applied 

Research Lab

$212,560 $547,206 Marine waters in the Bering 

Sea off of Alaska

Ecology–Habitat

Development of a peduncle 

belt as a medium to long-term 

tag attachment platform for 

cetacean studies

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$200,000 $200,000 Bay of Fundy Technological 

development–Tags

Dolphin detection and 

discrimination out of water

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command System 

Center Pacific

$197,000 $497,000 Not applicable (experiment 

at Navy facility)

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Cetaceans and naval sonar: 

behavioral response as a 

function of sonar frequency

University of St Andrews $183,000 $587,134 Norwegian waters Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Discovery of Sound in the Sea University of Rhode Island $179,000 $412,000 Not applicable (website 

hosted at URI)

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Fine-scale focal D-tag 

behavioral study of diel trends 

in activity budgets and sound 

production of endangered 

baleen whales in the Gulf of 

Maine

Pennsylvania State Applied 

Research Lab

$166,220 $448,130 Marine waters in the Gulf of 

Maine

Ecology–Other (activity 

budgets)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 59

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Prey fields and habitats of 

deep diving odontocetes: 3D 

characterization and modeling 

of beaked and sperm whale 

foraging areas in the Tongue 

of the Ocean

Duke University $153,300 $442,989 Marine waters in the Tongue 

of the Ocean off the 

Bahamas

Ecology–Habitat

Developing a better method 

of tag attachment for 

cetaceans

Moss Landing Marine 

Laboratory

$150,216 $233,216 All marine environments Technological 

development–Tags

Acoustic seaglider for beaked 

whale detection and passive 

autonomous acoustic

monitoring of marine 

mammals: system 

development using seaglider

University of Washington 

Applied Physics Laboratory

$150,000 $1,772,485 All areas where beaked 

whales can be located

Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Quantifying effects of midfrequency sonar transmissions 

on fish and whale behavior

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institute

$144,351 $450,351 Marine environment in the 

Lofoten Sea and around the 

Austevoll Aquaculture 

Station in Norway

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Remote monitoring of 

dolphins and whales in the 

high naval activity areas in 

Hawaiian waters

University of Hawaii $142,000 $716,344 High naval activity areas in 

Hawaiian waters

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Fine-scale survey of right and 

humpback whale prey 

abundance and distribution

State University of New York

– Stony Brook

$140,000 $221,000 Gulf of Maine Ecology–Habitat

ARGOS Support National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration

$135,000 $842,000 “this is to allow researchers 

to download tag data”

Other (support for ARGOS 

to allow tag downloads)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 60

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Modeling and validating the 

effects of sound on the marine 

environment

Portland State University $124,854 $249,854 Not applicable (modeling 

project)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (all 

sound sources)

An ocean observing system 

for large scale monitoring and 

mapping of noise within the 

Stellwagen National Marine 

Sanctuary

Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

$119,000 $288,000 Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

General biology–

Bioacoustics

An ocean observing system 

for large scale monitoring and 

mapping of noise within the 

Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$115,000 $255,000 Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Right whale diving and 

foraging behavior in the 

southwestern Gulf of Maine

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$108,777 $140,777 Gulf of Maine and Great 

South Channel in the 

Atlantic Ocean

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

In vivo determination of the 

complex elastic moduli of 

cetacean head tissue

Georgia Tech Research 

Corporation

$100,000 $823,004 Not applicable (lab project) General biology–Anatomy

Glider-based passive acoustic 

monitoring techniques in the

Southern California region

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$100,000 $800,000 Marine waters in the 

Southern California region

Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Remote release device for 

marine mammal electronic 

tags

Wildlife Computers, Inc. $100,000 $100,000 Laboratory Technological 

development–Tags
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 61

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Support services to the 

University of Hawaii marine 

mammal and marine mammal 

research programs through a 

memorandum of agreement 

between Marine Corps Base 

Hawaii Kaneohe, the Office 

of Naval Research, and 

marine mammal marine base 

support services

Marine Corps Base Hawaii $98,000 $285,800 University of Hawaii Marine 

Mammal Research Program 

facility

Other (support services to 

the University of Hawaii 

Marine Mammal Research 

Program)

Passive acoustic marine 

mammal monitoring using an 

HF towed to achieve an 

organic on-board capability 

having a high probability of 

mammal detection

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center – Newport

$94,000 $94,000 Testing done in the Tongue 

of the Ocean off the 

Bahamas

Other (assess the 

performance of an acoustic 

array)

Passive acoustic methods for 

tracking marine mammals 

using widely-spaced bottommounted hydrophones

University of Hawaii

Honolulu

$93,000 $152,036 Atlantic Undersea Test and 

Evaluation Center range in 

the Bahamas and Pacific 

missile range facility in 

Hawaii

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Population structuring of 

beaked whales in the Great 

Bahama Canyon, Northern 

Bahamas

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$83,285 $83,285 Waters in the Tongue of the 

Ocean off the Bahamas

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Tools to compare divinganimal kinematics with 

acoustic behavior and 

exposure

University of New Hampshire $83,211 $143,211 All marine waters General biology–

Feeding/diet
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 62

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Marine bioacoustics: back to 

the future

Kohala Center $82,000 $503,234 All marine environments Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Discovery of Sounds in the 

Sea (DOSITS) content and 

activities

Marine Acoustics, Inc. $78,000 $210,300 “website content” Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Support of MED-09 and 

Atlantic Undersea Test and 

Evaluation Center behavioral 

response studies programs

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center – Newport

$75,113 $75,113 Waters of the Tongue of the 

Ocean off the Bahamas

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Investigating the relationship 

between fin and blue whale 

locations, zooplankton 

concentrations, and 

hydrothermal venting on the 

Juan De Fuca Ridge

University of Washington $75,000 $259,690 Juan de Fuca Ridge in the 

North Pacific Ocean

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

Assessment of acoustic 

adaptations for noise 

compensation in marine 

mammals and studies of noise 

compensation in marine 

mammals

Pennsylvania State Applied 

Research Lab

$72,807 $372,807 Marine waters off the U.S.

northeast and a bay in 

Argentina

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Cumulative and synergistic 

effects of physical, biological, 

and acoustic signals on 

marine mammal habitat use

University of Washington 

Applied Physics Laboratory

$72,000 $116,026 All marine waters in the 

Bering Sea off Alaska

Ecology–Habitat
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 63

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Organic pollutant, lipid, fatty 

acid, and stable isotope 

analyses of beaked whale 

samples from the Bahamas

Northwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$69,000 $69,000 Bahamas General biology–

Feeding/diet

An ocean observing system 

for large scale monitoring and 

mapping of noise within the 

Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary

Cornell University $68,712 $649,712 Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf 

of Maine

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other 

(assessing the noise budget 

of the Stellwagen Bank 

National Marine Sanctuary)

Electrophysiological 

techniques for sea lion 

population-level audiometry

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command System 

Center Pacific

$68,600 $68,600 Not applicable (experiment 

at Navy facility)

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Cetaceans and Navy sonar: 

behavioral response as a 

function of sonar frequency 

and 3S2 behavioral response 

studies of cetaceans to Navy 

sonar signals in Norwegian 

waters

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$60,000 $771,165 Vestfjord basin in Norway Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (military 

and other sounds)

Technical and scientific 

support for passive acoustic 

monitoring in the research 

cruise MED09

University of Pavia $58,000 $58,000 Western Mediterranean and 

Alboran Sea

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Distribution, abundance, and 

population structuring of 

beaked whales in the Great 

Bahama Canyon, Northern 

Bahamas

Bahamas Marine Mammal 

Survey

$56,223 $1,252,223 Marine environment around 

the Great Bahama Canyon

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 64

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Imaging the lung under 

pressure

Naval Medical Research 

Center

$56,162 $56,162 Not applicable (lab project 

using stranded/dead animals)

Animal health–Diagnostics

Integration of marine 

mammal movement and 

behavior into the effects of 

sound on the marine 

environment (ESME)

Biomimética $56,000 $312,978 All marine environments General biology–

Bioacoustics

Establishing a marine 

mammal stranding network in 

the Bahamas

Bahamas Marine Mammal 

Research Organization

$51,000 $116,840 Entire marine environment 

around the Bahamas Island 

chain

Animal health–Stranding 

response

Ecology and acoustic 

behavior of wintering minke 

whales in the Hawaiian and 

Pacific Islands: a study to 

develop methods to better 

assess distribution, 

abundance, acoustic 

behaviors, and effects of noise 

on an elusive species

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command System 

Center Pacific

$50,355 $93,355 All marine waters around the 

Hawaiian Islands

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

The ecology and acoustic 

behavior of minke whales in 

the Hawaiian and Pacific 

Islands: a study to assess the 

distribution, abundance, 

acoustic behaviors, and the 

effects of noise on a visually 

elusive, but acoustically 

active species

University of St Andrews $49,601 $95,601 Marine waters around the 

Hawaiian Islands

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 65

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Utilizing pro bono 

commercial assets for marine 

mammal surveys in high 

naval activity area in 

Hawaiian waters

University of Hawaii $49,000 $288,256 Areas of high naval activity 

in Hawaiian waters

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Mid-frequency sonar 

interactions with beaked 

whales

Naval Surface Warfare Center 

Carderock

$48,000 $184,000 Not applicable (modeling 

project)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Population consequences of 

acoustic disturbance of 

marine mammals

University of California Santa 

Barbara

$41,407 $204,407 All ocean environments Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Support for the 3rd 

Intergovernmental Meeting 

on the Effects of Sound in the 

Ocean on Marine Mammals 

and the International 

Behavioral Response Studies 

meeting

NATO National Undersea 

Research Centre

$40,710 $40,710 All marine environments Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other 

(meetings to discuss 

research on effects of noise 

on marine life)

Fine-scale focal D-Tag 

behavioral study in the Gulf

of Maine

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$36,495 $74,495 Gulf of Maine in the Atlantic 

Ocean

Ecology–Other (diel 

activity budgets of baleen 

whales)

Tools to compare divinganimal kinematics with 

acoustic behavior and 

exposure

Greeneridge Scientific $35,000 $133,166 Any marine environment Ecology–Other (diving and 

acoustic behavior)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 66

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Providing field support for the 

proposed behavioral response 

study (BRS-08)

Bahamas Marine Mammal 

Research Organization

$32,000 $248,000 Tongue of the Ocean in the 

Bahamas

Other (support for a 

behavioral response study)

Monitoring beaked whale 

movements during submarine 

commander course using 

satellite telemetry tags

Bahamas Marine Mammal 

Research Organization

$32,000 $248,341 Tongue of the Ocean in the 

Bahamas

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Discovery of Sound in the Sea 

(DOSITS) website 

development

Scripps Institute of 

Oceanography

$32,000 $150,000 “all locations where marine 

animals occur”

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

SeaBASS: a marine 

bioacoustic school

Pennsylvania State Applied 

Research Lab

$30,000 $30,000 Not applicable (class project) Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Organization for the 4th 

International Workshop on 

Detection, Classification and 

Localization of Marine 

Mammals Using Passive 

Acoustics and the 1st 

International Workshop on 

Density Estimation of Marine 

Mammals Using Passive 

Acoustics

University of Pavia $30,000 $30,000 Workshops held in Pavia, 

Italy

Other (workshops)

Predicting natural neuroprotection in marine 

mammals: environmental and 

biological factors affecting 

the vulnerability to 

acoustically mediated tissue 

trauma in marine species

University of California Santa 

Cruz

$27,000 $792,174 Not applicable (data analysis 

and modeling exercise)

General biology–

Physiology/endocrinology/ 

biochemistry/etc.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 67

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Environmental 

characterization and analysis 

of beaked whale (Ziphiidae) 

habitats

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center – Newport

$25,000 $25,000 Waters where beaked whale 

strandings occurred in 

conjunction with naval 

exercises

Ecology–Habitat

Beaked whales and pilot 

whales in the Alboran Sea 

(southwest Mediterranean)

Alnitak Marine Research 

Center

$15,000 $40,856 Alboran Sea and southwest 

Mediterranean

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Support for the 18th Biennial 

Conference on the Biology of 

Marine Mammals: Quebec 

City, QC, Canada, 12-16 

October 2009

Society for Marine 

Mammalogy

$13,000 $13,000 Conference held in Quebec 

City, Quebec, Canada

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

ESME Workbench 

Innovations

Boston University $5,000 $743,727 Not applicable (modeling 

project)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (all 

sound sources)

Book: Marine Acoustic 

Bioacoustic Signal Processing 

and Analysis

Oregon State University $2,000 $61,399 Not applicable (writing a 

book)

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Basic hearing and 

echolocation mechanisms of 

dolphins and whales: auditory 

evoked potential and 

behavioral experiments

University of Hawaii Institute 

of Marine Biology

$027 $3,252,605 All marine waters General biology–

Bioacoustics

 

27 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 68

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Database development for 

ocean impacts: imaging, 

outreach, and rapid response

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$0 $1,248,150 Not applicable (lab project) General biology–

Bioacoustics

Climate change and baleen 

whale trophic cascades in 

West Greenland

University of Washington 

Applied Physics Laboratory

$0 $966,652 All marine waters around 

West Greenland

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Episodic upwelling of 

zooplankton within a 

bowhead whale feeding area 

near Barrow, Alaska

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$0 $732,683 Waters off the Barrow 

Canyon and Beaufort Sea 

Shelf breaks

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

In vivo determination of the 

complex elastic moduli of 

cetacean head tissue

Georgia Tech Research 

Corporation

$0 $668,123 Not applicable (lab project) General biology–Anatomy

Energy transfer to upper 

trophic levels on a small 

offshore bank

University of Southern Maine $028 $611,901 Platts Bank in the Gulf of 

Maine

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

Physiological and 

biochemical neuro-protection 

in cetaceans: are some marine 

mammal species safeguarded 

from emboli formation and 

barotrauma?

University of California Santa 

Cruz

$0 $571,245 Not applicable (work on 

captive animals)

General biology–

Physiology/endocrinology/ 

biochemistry/etc.

 

28 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 69

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Blue whale behavioral 

response study and field 

testing of the new bioacoustic 

probe

University of California San 

Diego

$0 $529,339 Marine waters in the North 

Pacific

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other (both 

shipping and military noise)

Use of electronic tag data and 

associated analytical tools to 

Identify and predict habitat 

utilization of marine 

mammals

University of California Santa 

Cruz

$0 $445,818 Entire Pacific Ocean Ecology–Habitat

Use of electronic tag data and 

associated analytical tools to 

identify and predict habitat 

utilization of marine 

mammals

Stanford University $0 $432,142 All Pacific Ocean waters Ecology–Habitat

Automatic detection of 

beaked whales from acoustic 

seagliders

Oregon State University $ 029 $400,166 All marine waters Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Acoustic float for marine 

mammal monitoring

Oregon State University $0 $300,615 All marine waters Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

An experimental model for 

bubble formation in diving 

seals and porpoises

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$0 $296,848 Not applicable (experiment 

using bycaught or stranded 

animals)

Animal health–Diagnostics

 

29 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 70

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Passive acoustic monitoring 

for the detection and 

identification of marine 

mammals

San Diego State University $0 $290,426 Not applicable (data analysis 

project)

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Importance of thin plankton 

layers in Hawaiian food web 

interactions: research 

spanning from physical 

circulation to spinner dolphins

University of Hawaii $0 $285,735 All marine waters around the 

Hawaiian Islands

Ecology–Habitat

Importance of thin plankton 

layers in Hawaiian food web 

interactions: research 

spanning from physical 

circulation to spinner dolphins

Oregon State University $0 $281,545 Waters around the Hawaiian 

Islands

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Combining active and passive 

acoustics to study marine 

mammals

Pennsylvania State Applied 

Research Lab

$030 $269,869 All marine waters Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Detection and classification of 

baleen whale vocalizations 

from autonomous platforms

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$0 $250,098 All marine environments Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

 

30 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 71

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Development of improved 

satellite-linked transmitters, 

physiological recorders, and 

attachment techniques for 

monitoring beaked whales

Alaska SeaLife Center $0 $242,822 Pacific Ocean Technological 

development–Tags

Auditory evoked potential 

hearing experiments with 

marine mammals

University of Hawaii Institute 

of Marine Biology

$0 $225,000 All marine environments General biology–

Bioacoustics

Marine mammal acoustic 

tracking and tagging from 

adapting high-frequency 

acoustic recording package 

technologies

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$0 $200,000 North Pacific Ocean General biology–

Bioacoustics

Physical and biological 

controls of copepod 

aggregation and baleen whale 

distribution

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$0 $161,096 Great South Channel in the 

Atlantic Ocean

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

Ruggedized portable 

instrumentation package for 

marine mammal evoked 

potential hearing 

measurements

University of Hawaii Institute 

of Marine Biology

$031 $143,867 All coastal and marine 

environments

Technological 

development–Other 

(evoked potential hearing 

measurements package)

 

31 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 72

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Office of Naval Research (continued)

Acoustic float for marine 

mammal monitoring

University of Washington 

Applied Physics Laboratory

$0 $99,701 All marine waters Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Use of multi-frequency 

acoustics to study cetacean 

foraging ecology

Duke University $0 $60,000 Marine waters in the Tongue 

of the Ocean off the 

Bahamas

General biology–

Feeding/diet

A scholarly work to write a 

scientific text book, entitled 

Marine Bioacoustics Signal 

Processing and Analysis

University of Hawaii $0 $40,780 All marine areas Other (writing a textbook)

Atlantic Undersea Test and 

Evaluation Center marine 

mammal visual line transect 

survey

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center – Newport

$0 $20,000 Waters in the Tongue of the 

Ocean off the Bahamas

Other (boat and logistic 

support for M3R)

2nd International Conference 

on Acoustic Communication 

by Animals

Oregon State University $0 $16,660 This project is a conference Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Chief of Naval Operations – Naval Air Systems Command 

Marine mammal detection 

system

Naval Air Systems Command $2,650,000 $2,650,000 North Atlantic Technological 

development–Other 

(research development test 

and evaluation to support 

Navy air training and 

testing activities)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 73

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy (continued)

Chief of Naval Operations – Naval Air Systems Command 

Marine mammal awareness 

alert and response system

Naval Air Systems Command $2,400,000 $4,800,000 Training and test ranges Technological 

development–Other 

(environmental planning 

system for National 

Environmental Policy Act 

documents)

Marine species mitigation Naval Air Systems Command $400,000 $400,000 Florida Technological 

development–Listening 

systems/acoustics

Chief of Naval Operations N45

M3R: opportunistic study of 

the effects of sonar on marine 

mammals (Southern 

California Offshore Range)

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center (Newport)

$604,167 $725,000 Southern California Offshore 

Range 

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Risk assessment, quality 

control, and criteria and 

thresholds modeling

Science Applications 

International Corporation 

$503,000 $503,000 Various Navy training ranges Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Passive acoustic monitoring Navy Post Graduate School $425,000 $425,000 Sur Ridge and San Nicholas 

Basin, California

Technological 

development–Listening

systems/acoustics

MRI/CAT scan laboratory for 

marine mammal necropsy

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$350,000 $350,000 Woods Hole, Massachusetts Animal health–Necropsies
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 74

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Chief of Naval Operations N45 (continued)

Development of vibroacoustic simulatorSan Diego State University / 

University of California San 

Diego

$312,000 $312,000 Laboratory in San Diego, 

California

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

M3R: opportunistic study of 

the effects of sonar on marine 

mammals (Atlantic undersea 

test and evaluation center)

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center (Newport)

$301,667 $362,000 Bahamas (Atlantic undersea 

test and evaluation center)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Behavioral response study on 

captive bottlenose dolphins

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command Systems 

Center-Pacific

$268,800 $268,800 Space and Naval Warfare 

Center Pacific, San Diego, 

California

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Passive acoustic monitoring 

in location of Quinault 

training range

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$200,000 $200,000 Northwest United States -

Washington state

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Passive acoustic 

monitoring—acoustic source 

design and fabrication

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center (Newport)

$174,667 $209,600 Southern California Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Passive acoustic methods for 

mitigation and abundance 

estimates

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$150,000 $150,000 Southern California Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Datasets of odontocete sounds 

annotated for developing 

automatic detection methods

Oregon State University $120,000 $243,430 U.S. West Coast Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Hawaiian beaked whale 

tagging/diving

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center / Cascadia

$95,000 $95,000 Hawaii Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock 

identification/delineation
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 75

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Chief of Naval Operations N45 (continued)

Ecosystem variability effects 

on cetacean abundance

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$80,000 $80,000 California Current Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Predictive model for cetacean 

habitat: Dall’s porpoise and 

beaked whales

Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center

$65,000 $65,000 U.S. West Coast Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Passive monitoring 

techniques

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$032 $650,000 San Diego, California Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Predictive modeling in 

Southern California region

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$0 $300,000 San Diego, California Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Monitoring cetaceans in the 

North Pacific: analysis of 

retrospective sound 

surveillance system data and 

acoustic detection on the 

Northern Edge Range

University of Washington 

Applied Physics Lab

$0 $195,000 Gulf of Alaska Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

 

32 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 76

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy

Chief of Naval Operations N45 (continued)

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography / San Diego 

State University anatomy /

finite element modeling

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$0 $100,000 San Diego, California Other (anatomy and tissue 

properties)

Atlantic Fleet Forces Command

East Coast OPAREA baseline 

monitoring

Duke University and 

University of North Carolina,

Wilmington

$1,000,000 $2,300,000 US Navy OPAREAS -

VACAPES, CHPT, 

CHAS/JAX

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

US Navy Marine Species 

Density Database

NAVFAC Atlantic $390,000 $390,000 Norfolk, Virginia Literature review / data 

synthesis

Marine mammal monitoring 

in Southern California

Smultea Environmental 

Sciences, LLC and Scripps 

Institute of Oceanography

$500,000 $500,000 Southern California Bight 

and offshore waters of 

Southern California from 

33N to the U.S.-Mexico 

exclusive economic zone 

boundary

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 77

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Navy (continued

Pacific Fleet

Aerial surveys in conjunction 

with underwater detonations 

and antisubmarine warfare

Marine Mammal Research 

Consultants

$150,000 $150,000 Southeast of Pearl Harbor, 

Oahu, underwater detonation 

monitoring occurred in 

conjunction with explosive 

events at Puuloa Training 

Range along with a vessel 

survey. The anti-submarine 

warfare monitoring occurred 

southeast of Oahu during a 

unit level anti-submarine 

warfare training event

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Passive acoustic monitoring 

data analysis

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$120,000 $120,000 Throughout the Hawaiian 

Islands, but particularly off 

Kauai and Hawaii Islands

Literature review/data 

synthesis

Aerial surveys in conjunction 

with anti-submarine warfare 

training

Marine Mammal Research 

Consultants

$100,000 $100,000 Around instrumented 

hydrophone training range 

north of Pacific Missile 

Range Facility, Kauai.

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Vessel survey in conjunction 

with underwater detonations

Pacific Islands Fisheries 

Science Center

$100,000 $100,000 Nearshore of Oahu, off Pearl 

Harbor, in the Puuloa 

underwater detonation range

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – explosives

Passive acoustic monitoring 

using Navy instrumented 

hydrophone range

Space and Naval Warfare 

Systems Command

$100,000 $100,000 Instrumented hydrophone 

range at Pacific Missile 

Range Facility, Kauai, 

Hawaii

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

Lookout effectiveness using 

Navy marine mammal 

observers

Naval Undersea Warfare 

Center

$50,000 $50,000 On instrumented hydrophone 

range north of Pacific 

Missile Range Facility, 

Kauai, Hawaii

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 78

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Army

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

West Indian manatee 

protection and conservation 

measures during navigation 

projects

Districts New Orleans, 

Jacksonville, Mobile, 

Savannah, Galveston

$3,854,186 $4,373,911 Northern Gulf of Mexico, 

western Atlantic (primarily 

coastal Florida)

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Steller sea lion protection and 

conservation during 

navigation projects

Districts Portland, Seattle, 

Alaska

$373,512 $373,512 Pacific Northwest associated 

with dredging of shipping 

channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Beluga whale protection and 

conservation during 

navigation projects

District Alaska $334,200 $334,200 Associated with Alaska 

dredging projects at shipping 

channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Right whale protection and 

conservation measures during 

navigation projects

Districts New England, 

Norfolk, Portland, Charleston, 

Jacksonville, Savannah, 

Wilmington

$328,526 $330,326 Coastal United States 

associated with dredging of 

shipping channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Cook Inlet beluga prey 

investigation

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$152,000 $152,000 Upper Cook Inlet, Alaska Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Killer whale protection and 

conservation measures during 

navigation projects

Districts Portland and Seattle $10,326 $10,326 Coastal Pacific associated 

with dredging of shipping 

channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Humpback whale Districts Portland, Seattle, 

Alaska, Jacksonville, 

Galveston

$9,193 $9,193 Coastal United States 

associated with dredging at 

shipping ports

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Hawaiian monk seal 

protection and conservation 

during navigation projects

District Honolulu $8,000 $8,000 Associated with dredging 

projects in Hawaiian 

shipping channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 79

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Army

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (continued)

Finback whale protection and 

conservation measures during 

navigation projects

Districts New England, 

Portland, Seattle, Alaska, 

Jacksonville, Galveston

$7,268 $7,268 Coastal United States near 

dredging of shipping ports

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Sperm whale protection and 

conservation during 

navigation projects

Districts Portland, Seattle, 

Jacksonville, Galveston

$6,209 $6,209 Coastal United States 

associated with dredging of 

shipping channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Northern sea otter protection 

and conservation during 

navigation projects

District Alaska $5,800 $5,800 Coastal Alaska associated 

with dredging of shipping 

channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Sei whale protection and 

conservation measures during 

navigation projects

Districts Portland, Seattle, 

Jacksonville, Galveston

$5,768 $5,768 Coastal United States 

associated with dredging of 

shipping channels

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Blue whale protection and 

conservation measures during 

navigation projects

Districts Portland and Seattle $5,326 $5,326 Pacific Northwest Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Polar bear protection and 

conservation during 

navigation projects

District Alaska $1,960 $1,960 Alaska dredging projects Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction

Bowhead whale protection 

and conservation measures 

during navigation projects

District Alaska $300 $300 Alaska Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other industrial 

activities/construction
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 80

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Defense

Department of the Air Force

Vandenberg Air Force Base, 

rocket and missile launch 

monitoring

U.S. Air Force, via four 

different contracts

$163,500 $163,500 Vandenberg Air Force Base, 

Santa Barbara County, 

California 

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Military 

activities – acoustic

A characterization of 

biological resources within 

the Cape Canaveral Air Force 

Station Trident Submarine 

Basin, Port Canaveral, Florida

Dynamac Corporation $50,000 $50,000 Trident Submarine Basin, 

Cape Canaveral Air Force 

Station, Port Canaveral, 

Florida, Brevard County

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Pinniped monitoring, 

Vandenberg Air Force Base, 

California

ManTech SRS Technologies, 

Inc.

$22,936 $22,936 Vandenberg Air Force Base, 

Santa Barbara County, 

California 

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey 

Assessing the accuracy and 

narrowing the uncertainty in 

population projections for 

southern Beaufort Sea polar 

bears

U.S. Geological Survey $981,000 $4,905,000 Southern Beaufort Sea 

region, Alaska

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Understanding and 

forecasting the response of 

polar bear populations to a 

rapidly diminishing sea ice 

environment

U.S. Geological Survey $954,000 $5,158,000 Southern Beaufort sea region 

of Alaska

Ecology–Habitat
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 81

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey (continued)

Understanding the ecology of 

sea otter populations in 

Alaska and their impact on 

coastal ecosystems a century 

after near-extirpation

U.S. Geological Survey $560,000 $2,703,000 The range of the northern sea 

otter in Alaska (primarily 

Aleutian Islands, southcentral and southeastern 

Alaska, but at times also 

collaborations with 

neighboring countries, 

Russia and Canada).

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Understanding and 

forecasting the response of 

Pacific walrus populations to 

a rapidly diminishing sea ice 

environment

U.S. Geological Survey $443,000 $2,218,000 Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea 

(Alaska and Russia)

Ecology–Habitat

The manatee individual 

photo-identification system, a 

multi-institution database to 

monitor and assess manatee 

population dynamics

U.S. Geological Survey $402,521 $1,674,462 U.S. Atlantic and Caribbean 

coastal areas.

Technological 

development–Photoidentification

Interactions between sea 

otters and nearshore 

communities

U.S. Geological Survey $375,025 $1,613,971 Alaska, California, and 

Russia, nearshore 

communities.

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Population biology and 

behavior of sea otters

U.S. Geological Survey $199,297 $900,936 California coastline from 

approximately Santa Cruz to 

Santa Barbara and including 

San Nicholas Island

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Demography and behavior of 

polar bears summering 

onshore in Alaska

U.S. Geological Survey $191,000 $2,133,000 Coastal plain of the North 

Slope of Alaska, adjacent to 

the Beaufort Sea and 

Chukchi Sea

Ecology–Habitat
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 82

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey (continued)

Southern Everglades manatee 

habitat use

U.S. Geological Survey $164,610 $782,113 Southwest Florida coast Ecology–Habitat

Use of cytogenetics and 

microsatellite DNA markers 

to define population structure 

in the Florida manatee

U.S. Geological Survey $149,118 $466,729 Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic 

coastal Florida.

Stock assessment/ 

population Biology–Stock 

identification/delineation

Monitoring and assessing 

effects of the Picayune Strand 

restoration project on the 

Florida manatee

U.S. Geological Survey $73,708 $108,729 Picayune Strand, Florida Ecology–Habitat

Modeling natural winter 

habitat and carrying capacity 

of the Florida manatee

U.S. Geological Survey $55,053 $112,171 Florida Ecology–Other (carrying 

capacity)

Development of population 

models and decision-support 

tools to assess recovery and 

status of the Florida manatee

U.S. Geological Survey $47,519 $134,108 Florida Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Northern Gulf of Mexico 

manatee distribution and 

habitat use

U.S. Geological Survey $45,546 $140,975 Northern Gulf of Mexico Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Marine mammal health 

assessment

U.S. Geological Survey $41,899 $142,089 Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic 

coastal Florida

Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 83

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey (continued)

Application of capturerecapture statistical models to 

study movement, behavior, 

and survival of manatees in 

response to management 

actions and environmental 

and population change

U.S. Geological Survey $34,219 $160,083 Florida Technological 

development–Photoidentification

Mapping and characterizing 

seagrass beds and manatee 

foraging areas in the ten 

thousand islands by 

incorporating manatee GPS 

tracking data and habitat 

information

U.S. Geological Survey $31,712 $188,573 10,000 Islands Region, 

Florida

Ecology–Habitat

Assessing the effects of 

dredging on manatee use of 

Homosassa Springs, Citrus 

County, Florida

U.S. Geological Survey $30,197 $59,064 Homosassa Springs, Florida Ecology–Habitat

Past and future impacts of sea 

level rise on coastal habitats 

and species in the Greater 

Everglades: an integrated 

modeling approachapplication of the hydrologicecologic model to individual 

species models

U.S. Geological Survey $21,456 $21,456 Everglades National Park, 

Big Cypress Preserve, and 

Fish and Wildlife Service’s 

Florida Panther and Ten 

Thousand Islands National 

Wildlife Refuges, Florida

Ecology–Other (climate 

change and sea level rise)

Modeling, estimation, and 

adaptive management of 

manatees

U.S. Geological Survey $20,000 $130,000 Florida Ecology–Other (population 

modeling of distribution 

and mortality)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 84

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey (continued)

Effects of the everglades 

hydrological restoration on 

manatees: integrating data and 

models for the Ten Thousand 

Islands and Everglades

U.S. Geological Survey $14,462 $197,159 Greater Everglades System, 

Florida

Ecology–Habitat

Estimates of annual rates of 

non-lethal boat strikes to 

Florida manatees

U.S. Geological Survey $11,820 $57,984 Western Florida coast from 

Cedar Key to Hernando 

Beach

Technological 

development–Photoidentification

Manatee use patterns and 

benthic habitat 

characterization in Puerto 

Rico

U.S. Geological Survey $7,553 $44,134 Puerto Rico Ecology–Habitat

The effects of hurricanes on 

the Florida manatee 

population

U.S. Geological Survey $4,436 $23,028 Florida Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Other 

(manatee individual photoidentification system, 

survival, reproduction)

Investigation of wildlife (sea 

otter) morbidity and mortality

U.S. Geological Survey $2,500 $31,200 Washington state 

(collection), and Madison, 

Wisconsin (necropsy)

Animal health–Diagnostics

U.S. Geological Survey 

Honolulu field station 

investigation of wildlife 

morbidity and mortality

U.S. Geological Survey $033 $400 Pacific Islands (collection), 

Honolulu, Hawaii (diagnostic 

work)

Animal health–Diagnostics

 

33 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 85

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior (continued)

Minerals Management Service

Pinniped movements and 

foraging: walrus habitat use in 

the potential drilling area 

(Chukchi)

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$1,299,811 $1,299,811 Alaskan Chukchi Sea coast 

seaward to the edge of the 

continental shelf

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Pinniped movements and 

foraging: seasonal 

movements, habitat selection 

and haul-out behavior of adult 

bearded seals in the Chukchi 

Sea

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$1,163,000 $1,163,000 Chukchi Sea and Alaskan 

Chukchi Sea coastal area

Ecology–Habitat

Demography and behavior of 

polar bears summering on 

shore in Alaska (Beaufort, 

Chukchi)

Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Marine Mammals 

Management

$821,998 $821,998 Alaskan coastal plain 

adjacent to the Beaufort and 

Chukchi Seas

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Sperm whale acoustic prey 

study 

Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$451,900 $451,900 Gulf of Mexico Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Stock

identification/delineation

Workshop on the status of 

passive acoustic monitoring 

Resolve, Inc., Washington, 

DC

$242,591 $242,591 Applicable worldwide Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Oil and gas 

(minerals extraction) 

activities, LNG terminals, 

etc. – acoustic)

Demography and behavior of 

polar bears summering on 

shore in Alaska: estimating 

abundance and distribution 

using mark-resight methods

Fish and Wildlife Service $170,304 $960,767 Alaska Southern Beaufort 

Sea coastline from 

Wainwright to the Canadian 

border including barrier 

islands

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 86

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service (continued)

Atlantic marine mammal and 

sea turtle data search and 

literature synthesis including 

stranding and nesting sites

Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$141,231 $141,231 Atlantic U. S. coastal area 

out to the exclusive 

economic zone

Literature review/data 

synthesis

A pilot study to sample sperm 

whale prey in the northern 

Gulf of Mexico

Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center

$98,000 $98,000 Northern (U.S.) Gulf of 

Mexico, waters greater than 

200 m deep

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Bowhead whale feeding 

variability in the western 

Beaufort Sea: feeding 

observations and 

oceanographic measurements 

and analyses

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory, Seattle, 

Washington

$034 $5,080,920 Western Beaufort Sea Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

North Pacific right whales in 

the southeastern Bering Sea: 

distribution, abundance, and 

habitat use

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$0 $3,400,000 Southeastern Bearing Sea Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Monitoring the distribution of 

Arctic whales (observers for 

bowhead whale aerial survey 

project)

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$0 $1,845,000 Alaskan Beaufort Sea coastal 

area

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Monitoring the distribution of 

Arctic Whales (Aircraft 

support for Bowhead Whale 

Aerial Survey Project)

National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration

Aircraft Operation Center

$0 $1,524,995 Alaskan Beaufort Sea coastal 

area

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

 

34 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 87

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

Minerals Management Service (continued)

Bowhead whale feeding 

program: satellite tagging and 

tracking

Alaska Department of Fish 

and Game

$0 $1,499,996 Alaska Coast, Beaufort Sea Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Population and sources of 

recruitment in polar bears

University of Alberta, Canada $035 $1,040,061 North Slope of Alaska and 

adjacent Canadian Arctic

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

COMIDA: distribution and 

relative abundance of marine 

mammals: aerial surveys – air 

support

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$0 $850,000 Chukchi Sea from the 

Alaskan coast seaward to the 

edge of the continental shelf

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

COMIDA: distribution and 

relative abundance of marine 

mammals: aerial surveys –

personnel

National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory

$0 $800,000 Chukchi Sea from the 

Alaskan coast seaward to the 

edge of the continental shelf

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Seismic survey mitigation 

measures and marine mammal 

observer reports

GeoCet Group, LLC, 

Houston, Texas

$0 $150,000 Gulf of Mexico Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Oil and gas 

(minerals extraction) 

activities, LNG terminals, 

etc. – acoustic)

Assessing reproduction and 

body condition of the ringed 

seal (Phoca hispida) near 

Sachs Harbour, Northwest 

Territories, through a harvestbased sampling program

Department of Fisheries and 

Oceans Canada, Western 

Arctic Area, Central and 

Arctic Region

$0 $115,000 Canadian Beaufort Sea 

coastal area

Animal health–Monitoring/ 

assessment

 

35 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 88

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior (continued)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Habitat use and ecological 

status of polar bears in the 

Chukchi-Bering Seas

Fish and Wildlife Service $473,000 $1,446,000 Chukchi Sea 100 miles off 

Alaska coast between 

Shishmaref and Cape 

Lisburne

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Walrus co-management Eskimo Walrus Commission $300,000 $300,000 Bering and Chukchi Seas Harvest/co-management

Polar bear co-management Alaska Nanuuq Commission $200,000 $200,000 Bering, Beaufort, and 

Chukchi Seas

Harvest/co-management

Investigating the 

consequences of coastal 

contamination and 

anthropogenic stressors for 

sea otter recovery

U.S. Geological Survey /

University of California Santa 

Cruz

$64,801 $64,801 Monterey and Big Sur, 

California Ecology–Habitat

Quantitative carrying capacity 

estimation for manatee warm 

water habitat in Florida

Ecohealth Alliance and 

Innovative Health 

Applications LLC

$51,743 $137,109 Throughout Florida where 

warm water locations exist

Other (carrying capacity 

study)

Estimation of manatee 

population parameters from 

data in the manatee individual 

photo-identification system in 

support of the Service’s fiveyear review of the West 

Indian manatee

U.S. Geological Survey $50,000 $50,000 State of Florida Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Other 

(adult manatee survival rate 

estimates)

Manatee surveys in Puerto 

Rico PBS&J $39,940 $39,940 

The aerial survey was done 

for the entire island of Puerto 

Rico including Vieques and 

Culebra Islands.

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 89

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (continued)

Optimum sustainable 

population for the Florida 

manatee

U.S. Geological Survey $26,442 $26,442 State of Florida Stock assessment/ 

population biology–Other 

(optimal sustainable 

population)

Manatee surveys in Puerto 

Rico

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Caribbean Ecological 

Services Field Office

$25,178 $25,178 Aerial survey was done for 

the entire island of Puerto 

Rico including Vieques and 

Culebra.

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Development of statewide 

manatee habitat checklist

Wildlife Trust and Innovation 

Health Solutions, LLC

$20,961 $112,216 Throughout Florida where 

warm water areas exist

Other (habitat assessment 

of warm water sites)

Florida manatee forum Florida Fish and Wildlife 

Conservation Commission

$15,000 $15,000 State of Florida Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Cumulative effects analysis of 

threats to manatees – an 

integrated modeling approach

U.S. Geological SurveyPatuxent Wildlife Research 

Center

$15,000 $25,000 Database development-no 

location

Literature review/data 

synthesis

Captive feeding trials to 

improve the use of fatty acids 

and stable isotopes for diet 

determination in polar bears

Washington State University $15,000 $90,000 Washington State University 

Bear Research Center

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Washington sea otter 2009 

survey

Washington Department of 

Fish and Wildlife

$4,800 $4,800 Washington coast from 

Columbia River to Pillar 

Point in the Strait of Juan de 

Fuca

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 90

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior (continued)

National Park Service 

Glacier Bay National Park 

Marine Mammal Studies

Glacier Bay National Park $511,000 $511,000 Glacier Bay National Park, 

Alaska

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Population monitoring and 

stock assessment of harbor 

seals

Glacier Bay National Park $139,000 $139,000 Glacier Bay National Park, 

Alaska

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Harbor seal research Alaska Sea Life Center $70,000 $335,000 Chiswell Islands and Aialik 

Bay, Alaska

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Monitor pinnipeds at Point 

Reyes National Seashore

Point Reyes National 

Seashore

$50,000 $50,000 Point Reyes, California Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

Monitor monk seals at 

Kalaupapa National Historical 

Park

National Park Service $45,000 $45,000 Kalaupapa, Hawaii Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity

Harbor seals and vessel 

disturbance

Glacier Bay National Park $20,500 $20,500 Glacier Bay National Park, 

Alaska

Other anthropogenic 

impacts/assessment–

shipping, collisions

2009 Sea otter forage data 

collection within Katmai 

National Park and Preserve 

and Kenai Fjords National 

Park

U.S. Geological Survey and 

National Park Service

$20,000 $20,000 Katmai National Park and 

Preserve and Kenai Fjords 

National Park, Alaska

General biology–

Feeding/diet
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 91

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of the Interior

National Park Service (continued)

Ecology of marine sanctuaries Alaska Sea Life Center $13,000 $13,000 Kamchatka and Commander 

islands

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Sea otter carcass surveys and 

collections within Katmai 

National Park and Preserve, 

and Kenai Fjords National 

Park

U.S. Geological Survey and 

National Park Service

$12,000 $12,000 Katmai National Park and 

Preserve and Kenai Fjords 

National Park, Alaska

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Redwood National Park 

stranded marine mammals

Redwood National Park $5,500 $5,500 Redwood National Park, 

Arcata, California

Ecology–Other (stranded 

marine mammals)

Monitor harbor seals at 

Golden Gate National 

Recreation Area

Golden Gate National 

Recreation Area

$1,500 $1,500 Golden Gate National 

Recreation Area, San 

Francisco Bay, California

Ecology–Other (human 

interactions)

Cetacean sighting network North Gulf Oceanic Society $1,500 $1,500 Resurrection Bay Education and 

outreach/engagement

Channel Islands National Park 

stranded marine mammals

Channel Islands National Park $1,000 $1,000 Channel Islands National 

Park, California

Ecology–Other (document 

stranding associated with 

islands)

Harbor seal data management Alaska Sea Life Center $036 $9,965 Seward, Alaska Other (video and GIS)

Marine mammal strandings at 

Cape Hatteras National 

Seashore

National Park Service In-kind support for staff 

time, exact total unknown for 

fiscal year 2009 and total 

funding

Cape Hatteras National 

Seashore

Animal Health–Stranding 

response

 

36 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 92

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Department of Health and Human Services

National Institutes of Health 

Director's Pioneer Award Duke University $781,014 $781,014 Duke University, Durham, 

North Carolina

Other (neurobiology)

Toxoplasma population 

genetics

National Institute of Allergy 

and Infectious Diseases

$589,615 $589,615 Bethesda, Maryland Other (population genetics)

Mechanisms of oxidative 

stress and inflammation 

during prolonged fasting and 

sleep

University of California 

Merced

$365,534 $365,534 University of California, 

Merced

Other (physiological 

mechanisms)

Functional properties of 

hemoglobins and myoglobins

Rice University $315,590 $315,590 Rice University, Houston, 

Texas

Other (hematology)

Health effects of lifetime 

exposure to food 

contaminants

Harvard University School Of 

Public Health

$270,651 $270,651 Harvard School of Public 

Health, Boston, 

Massachusetts 

Other (exposure to food 

contaminants)

Biosynthetic protein models 

of heme-copper oxidases and 

nitric oxide reductases

University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign$241,268 $241,268 University of Illinois, Urbana Other (biotechnology)

Male mutation bias and 

paternal age effect in 

mammals

Pennsylvania State University $87,133 $87,133 Pennsylvania State 

University

Other (aging)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 93

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian's National Zoo National Zoo $15,000,000 $39,000,000 National Zoo, Washington, 

DC

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Evaluating individual dietary 

specialization in sea otters

Smithsonian Environmental 

Research Center

$037 $30,000 Monterey Bay, Monterey 

County; Estero Bay, San 

Luis Obispo County; San 

Nicolas Island, all in 

California

General biology–

Feeding/diet

National Science Foundation

Collaborative proposal: an 

interdisciplinary monitoring 

mooring in the western Arctic 

boundary current: climatic 

forcing and ecosystem 

response (0856244)

Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution

$2,317,495 $2,317,495 Western Arctic boundary 

current east of Barrow 

Canyon

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Mitigation of impacts of 

ocean sciences research of 

marine mammals 2009- 2011 

(0924111)

Columbia University $1,839,332 $1,839,332 Global Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Other 

(monitoring and mitigation 

for seismic research)

Collaborative research: 

Weddell seals as autonomous 

sensors of the winter 

oceanography of the Ross Sea 

(0838937)

University of California Santa 

Cruz

$555,788 $555,788 Southern Ocean, Ross Sea General biology–

Feeding/diet

Subcortical mechanisms of 

unihemispheric sleep in the 

fur seal (0919929)

Sepulveda Research 

Corporation

$370,000 $370,000 Russian marine mammal 

facility

General biology–

Physiology/endocrinology/ 

biochemistry/etc.

 

37 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 94

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

National Science Foundation (continued)

CAREER: ecological 

diversification of marine 

mammals (cetacea and 

sirenia) through Cenozoic 

climate change: evidence 

from geochemical analysis of 

fossil material (0847413)

University of Wyoming $296,880 $296,880 Unknown General biology–Historical 

analysis

Collaborative research: 

persistent organic pollutants 

in the Antarctic marine food 

web: impact of climate 

change and insights into the 

feeding ecology of apex 

predators (0838932)

College of William & Mary 

Virginia Institute of Marine 

Science

$275,000 $275,000 Antarctic, polar regions Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Collaborative proposal: an 

interdisciplinary monitoring 

mooring in the western Arctic 

boundary current: climatic 

forcing and ecosystem 

response (0855828)

University of Washington $271,917 $271,917 Western Arctic boundary 

current east of Barrow 

Canyon

General biology–

Bioacoustics

Transition to tail-powered 

swimming in the first fully 

aquatic whales of Eocene 

Tethys (Egypt) (0920972)

University of Michigan $265,001 $265,001 Egypt General biology–Anatomy

Collaborative research: 

Weddell seals as autonomous 

sensors of the winter 

oceanography of the Ross Sea 

(0838911)

Old Dominion University 

Research Foundation

$246,960 $246,960 Southern Ocean Ross Sea General biology–

Feeding/diet
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 95

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

National Science Foundation (continued)

Using traditional knowledge, 

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, to 

guide the development of 

hypotheses on narwhal tusk 

function (0756708)

Harvard University $225,238 $225,238 Northeastern Baffin Island 

and northwestern Greenland

General biology–Anatomy

Collaborative research: 

Weddell seals as autonomous 

sensors of the winter 

oceanography of the Ross Sea 

(0838892)

University of Alaska 

Anchorage 

$196,556 $196,556 Southern Ocean, Ross Sea General biology–

Feeding/diet

Collaborative research: an 

interdisciplinary monitoring 

mooring in the western Arctic 

boundary current: climatic 

forcing and ecosystem 

response (0856210)

University of Alaska 

Fairbanks 

$195,417 $195,417 Western Arctic boundary 

current east of Barrow 

Canyon

General biology–

Bioacoustics

RUI: anatomical 

transformation in Mammalia: 

developmental controls of 

vertebral column evolution 

(0842507)

Wellesley College $133,814 $133,814 Unknown General biology–Anatomy

Collaborative research: 

persistent organic pollutants 

in the Antarctic marine food 

web: impact of climate 

change and insights into the 

feeding ecology of apex 

predators (0838860)

University of Rhode Island $101,822 $101,822 Antarctic Ecology–Trophic 

interactions
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 96

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

National Science Foundation (continued)

SGER: blow-sampling: a noninvasive method for assessing 

diet, reproductive status, and 

genetics in cetaceans 

(0847922)

Georgetown University $89,924 $89,924 Indian Ocean bottlenose 

dolphins in Shark Bay, 

Australia

General biology–

Feeding/diet

Capital expenditure, lactation 

energetics and the importance 

of foraging to Weddell seals 

and their pups

Smithsonian Environmental 

Research Center

$0 38 $393,887 Hutton Cliffs, McMurdo 

Sound, Ross Sea

General biology–

Reproduction

Marine Mammal Commission

Acoustically observing the 

Hawaii longline fishery

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / Regents of the 

University of California San 

Diego, Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$90,100 $90,100 Hawaii Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Dugongs of the Bazaruto 

Archipelago, central 

Mozambique

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / Centre for 

Dolphin Studies, Nelson 

Mandela Metropolitan 

University

$85,000 $85,000 Bazaruto Bay Region, 

Mozambique, Western 

Indian Ocean

Fishery interactions–

Bycatch and entanglement 

estimation

Improving capacity in the 

wider Caribbean region

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / United Nations 

Environment Programme, 

Caribbean Environment 

Programme

$78,515 $78,515 Workshop and associated 

efforts are focused on the 

wider Caribbean region

Anthropogenic impacts/ 

assessment–Ecotourism, 

whale watching or "swimwith" programs

 

38 Projects with $0 funding in fiscal year 2009 represent no-cost effort / continued work during that year with funding that was obligated during an earlier fiscal 

year to be expended during a subsequent fiscal year or years.
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 97

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Marine Mammal Commission (continued)

Populations of Hector's 

dolphins in time and space

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / Oregon State 

University

$70,870 $70,870 Populations from New 

Zealand's North Island and 

South Island

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Risks and impacts of crab 

fishing gear on minke whales

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / Mingan Island 

Cetacean Study, Inc.

$65,000 $65,000 Mingan Archipelago, Gulf of 

St. Lawrence, Eastern 

Canada

Fishery interactions–

Methods to reduce bycatch 

and entanglement

Partnership with Conservation 

Magazine

Society for Conservation 

Biology

$60,000 $60,000 Conservation Magazine's 

information content has 

global focus. 

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Conservation and 

management of the Indus 

River dolphin

Downstream Research Group $54,000 $54,000 Focus on Indus River 

dolphin, Indus River, 

Pakistan

Literature review/data 

synthesis

Vaquita.tv: a science 

communication initiative 

using educational multimedia 

to promote vaquita 

conservation

EarthOCEAN Media $54,000 $54,000 Focus on northern Gulf of 

California, Mexico 

(communities of San Felipe, 

Puerto Penasco, and El Golfo 

de Santa Clara)

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

Status and conservation of the 

West African manatee

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / Wildlife Trust, 

Inc.

$50,000 $50,000 West Africa (various 

countries)

Other (capacity building)

Building partnerships for 

long-term ecological 

monitoring of marine 

mammals in the Galapagos 

Islands and in other marine 

reserves in Ecuador

Texas A&M University $34,969 $34,969 Galapagos Islands and other 

marine protected sites in 

Ecuador

Ecology–Marine mammals 

and oceanography/ 

productivity
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 98

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Marine Mammal Commission (continued)

Freshwater cetaceans as 

flagship species for integrated 

river conservation 

management

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

$31,312 $31,312 Workshop focused on Asian 

river dolphins and was

convened in Samarinda, East 

Kalimantan Province, 

Indonesia. Participants were 

from Indonesia, China, 

Cambodia, Myanmar,

Bangladesh, India, Pakistan. 

Ecology–Habitat

Passive acoustic assessment 

of marine mammals and 

ocean noise levels in the 

Greenland Sea and Fram 

Strait: a pilot study

National Fish and Wildlife 

Foundation / Oregon State 

University, Hatfield Marine 

Science Center

$25,021 $25,021 Central Greenland Sea and 

Fram Strait; Arctic

Other (climate disruption)

Support and maintenance of 

the data collection system for 

the Survey of FederallyFunded Research

Washington Consulting 

Government Services

$20,000 $20,000 Collecting information on 

marine mammal research and 

conservation activities 

supported by U.S. funding 

agencies. Supporting agency 

and performing organization 

are based in the Washington, 

DC, metropolitan area.

Literature review/data 

synthesis

Southern Caribbean Marine 

Mammal Stranding Response 

Training Workshop

Southern Caribbean Cetacean 

Network

$18,000 $18,000 Workshop hosted by Curacao 

Sea Aquarium, focusing on 

Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, 

Bonaire, Curacao, St. 

Eustatius, St. Maarten, Saba), 

Caribbean

Animal Health–Stranding 

response

Transient killer whale 

predation in southeastern 

Alaska

Individual $15,000 $15,000 Glacier Bay and Icy Strait 

region of southeastern 

Alaska

General biology–

Feeding/diet
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 99

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Marine Mammal Commission (continued)

Support for the 18th Biennial 

Conference on the Biology of 

Marine Mammals, Quebec 

City, Canada

Society for Marine 

Mammalogy

$15,000 $15,000 Focus on marine mammal 

research and conservation 

worldwide

General biology–Other 

(general biology)

Improving the contribution of 

marine and other protected 

areas to the conservation of 

sirenians

Sirenian International, Inc. $12,105 $12,105 Workshop with global focus 

on sirenian conservation 

(workshop was part of the 

2009 International Marine 

Conservation Congress, held 

at George Mason University 

in Fairfax, Virginia)

Ecology–Habitat

Indian Ocean Cetacean 

Symposium 2009

Marine Research Centre, 

Ministry of Fisheries and 

Agriculture, Republic of 

Maldives

$11,000 $11,000 Symposium focused on 

Indian Ocean cetacean 

species, held near Male in the 

Maldives

Other (population biology 

and general biology)

Pilot whale tagging in the 

southern Caribbean

Southern Caribbean Cetacean 

Network

$11,000 $11,000 Waters off Curacao, 

Netherlands Antilles, 

Caribbean

Other (rehabilitation and 

release)

The Antarctic Treaty Summit: 

Science-Policy Interactions in 

International Governance

The Regents of the University 

of California (UC Santa 

Barbara)

$11,000 $11,000 Antarctica Other (international 

governance)

A review of false killer 

whales in Hawaiian waters: 

biology, status, and risk 

factors

Cascadia Research Collective $10,989 $10,989 Hawaii (U.S. waters 

surrounding main Hawaiian 

Islands)

Literature review/data 

synthesis

Second International 

Conference on the Effects of 

Noise on Aquatic Life

University of Maryland $10,010 $10,010 Conference convened in 

Cork, Ireland – international 

focus

Other (underwater sound; 

naturally occurring and 

human-generated)
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 100

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

Marine Mammal Commission (continued)

An Ocean Infrastructure 

Strategy for U.S. Research 

Capabilities in 2030

The National Academies, 

National Research Council, 

Ocean Studies Board

$10,000 $10,000 National Research Council 

workshop with expert 

committee focusing on U.S. 

ocean infrastructure

Technological 

development–Other 

(infrastructure for ocean 

studies)

Investigating the trophic 

ecology and niche partitioning 

of two top predators of the 

western Antarctic Peninsula

The Regents of the University 

of California (UC Santa Cruz)

$9,500 $9,500 Western Antarctic Peninsula, 

Southern Ocean

Ecology–Trophic 

interactions

Analyses of acoustic data 

from vaquita expedition 2008

National Marine Fisheries 

Service

$7,000 $7,000 Northern Gulf of California, 

Mexico (both inside and 

outside of the Refuge Area 

for the Protection of the 

Vaquita)

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Support for publication of 

Right Whale News

Associated Scientists at 

Woods Hole

$2,000 $2,000 Focus on the habitat of the 

North Atlantic right whale, 

off the east coast of Canada 

and the United States (from 

Maine to Florida)

Education and outreach/ 

engagement

The first study of the 

diversity, distribution, and 

abundance of cetaceans in 

Guatemala's exclusive 

economic zone in the Pacific 

Ocean

Individual $1,300 $1,300 Printing of report (in 

Guatemala) focusing on 

waters in the exclusive 

economic zone off the 

Pacific coast of Guatemala

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

North Pacific Research Board

Reducing sperm whale 

depredation via decoy 

deployment and active 

deterrent testing

Scripps Institution of 

Oceanography

$149,944 $152,462 Sitka, southeast Alaska Fishery interactions–

Depredation studies, 

methods to mitigate 

depredation
Federal funding for marine mammal research and conservation Fiscal year 2009

Marine Mammal Commission Page 101

Project title Performing organization

Fiscal year 

2009

funding

Total 

funding

Primary project 

location

Primary project 

objective24

North Pacific Research Board (continued)

The development of a catalog 

of left-side digital images of 

individually-identified Cook 

Inlet beluga whales

LGL Alaska Research 

Associates

$80,000 $80,000 Upper Cook Inlet Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Trichinellosis in marine 

mammals as a zoonotic 

disease, and possible ways of 

transmission of trichinellosis 

to humans in the Chukchi 

Peninsula

Vyatka State Agricultural 

Academy

$56,664 $61,284 Community of Lorino on the 

Chukchi Peninsula

Animal health–Disease

Iliamna Lake freshwater seal 

study: characterizing local use 

patterns, local traditional 

knowledge, and seal 

population ecology

University of Alaska 

Anchorage and Bristol Bay 

Native Association

$49,233 $99,923 Ilimana Lake, Bristol Bay, 

Alaska

General biology–

Traditional ecological 

knowledge

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dynamac 

Corporation/National 

Aeronautics and Space 

Administration/Ecological 

Programs Kennedy Space 

Center

Long term monitoring of the 

abundance and distribution of 

manatees at the Kennedy 

Space Center

$50,000 $50,000 Kennedy Space Center, 

Brevard County, Florida

Stock assessment/ 

population biology–

Population abundance, 

trends, and distribution

Dynamac 

Corporation/National 

Aeronautics and Space 

Administration/Ecological 

Programs Kennedy Space 

Center

Southeast U. S. Marine 

Mammal Stranding Network 

$6,000 $6,000 Kennedy Space Center, 

Brevard County, Florida

Animal health–Stranding 

response