Although we don’t always emphasize the humpback whale work that we do, part of our mission has always been to contribute to the cooperative work on North Pacific humpback whales between various research groups and the National Marine Fisheries Service. During our mid-July cruise we made some fascinating observations of humpback whales (more on that later).  Recently Olga von Ziegesar, Jan Straley, and NGOS pooled data to look at humpbacks in Prince William Sound and determine if there are different whales using inshore areas of Prince William Sound and those found mainly offshore from the Sound.   It appears the whales that regularly use the Sound are unique individuals and their feeding habits differ from whales in adjacent areas... [READ MORE]

Along with its regular work advising the government, the federal Marine Mammal Commission was to review evidence "that rogue packs of killer whales" are wiping out discrete populations of the most endangered marine mammals. [READ MORE]

"In the ongoing debate over what's causing the decline of Alaska's Steller sea lions, researchers have studied everything from nutritional stress to climate change. Now researchers have turned their attention to killer whales. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio, scientists say the chance to see if killer whales are eating too many sea lions is also a chance to learn more about killer whales themselves." - Doug Schneider [READ MORE]