Monterey Bay Dolphin and Whale Research

Monterey Bay, California. Monterey Bay represents a unique marine resource for cetaceans because of the deep water canyon close to shore along with a rich upwelling system off Point Año Nuevo just up-current to the north. We have focused primarily on monitoring populations of the humpback and killer whales that visit the bay on a seasonal basis - working in conjunction with other whale researcher to track movements of animals and population structures of these two species in the western Pacific Ocean.

We are currently expanding this research plan to include systematic surveys for in-shore animals that are facing fisheries and other human conflicts: the California sea otter and the harbor porpoise. Recent studies in Monterey Bay have documented otters in areas where they are not currently censused. Our goal here is to clarify the extent of this phenomenon and to determine what the animals are doing in hundreds of feet of water. The harbor porpoise population off the California coast appears to be in decline and recent genetic evidence points to a surprising lack of exchange between adjacent sub-populations. Among the existing threats are high levels of persistent contaminants and well-documented mortality in the gillnet fishery.