Cetacean Research
PIFSC cetacean research is concerned with populations of whales and dolphins in the central and western Pacific Ocean. More...
News and Highlights
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October 19, 2017
On October 13, 2017, the Pacific Islands Regional Office's Marine Mammal Response team responded to five pilot whales that unfortunately stranded and died at Kalapaki Beach, Lihue, Kauai. Personnel from the University of Hawaii (UH), NOAA Fisheries, Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), and volunteers worked together to conduct a necropsy (post-mortem examination) on all five whales to investigate the cause of stranding. More... -
July 10, 2017
The Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS) departed for a six-month mission to survey whales, dolphins, and seabirds around the Hawaiian Archipelago. The mission will be aboard two NOAA Ships: the Oscar Elton Sette and Reuben Lasker. More... -
November 30, 2016
Check out our new "Sounds of the Deep" acoustics page. The new interactive web page will be featured at the Acoustical Society of America conference this week in Honolulu. Members of the PIFSC Cetacean Research Program will present their latest work at this international conference of scientists and acoustics professionals. More... -
August 16, 2015
On August 16th of 2015, The NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette departed Pearl Harbor, Oahu to support science conducted by the Ecosystems and Oceanography Program and the Cetacean Research Program of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. More... -
July 1, 2015(updated 12/29/2015)
A panel of experts will meet July 27-31, 2015 to review the PIFSC science that informs stock assessments of marine mammals and marine turtles. The panelists will learn about protected species science information needs, priorities and research activities that are relevant to current programs. The review panel will provide input on ways to improve the quality of marine mammal and marine turtle science programs. More... -
May 8, 2015
On May 8 a team of cetacean observers, acousticians, and oceanographers will depart Guam to start the Mariana Archipelago Cetacean Survey (MACS). The team is led by Dr. Erin Oleson, the Leader of the PIFSC Cetacean Research Program (CRP), and most of the CRP staff, researchers from the University of Hawaii and Southeast Fisheries Science Center, as well as an undergraduate student in Natural Resource Management from Northern Mariana College. More... -
June 30, 2014
During April 1-4, PIFSC co-hosted the 2014 meeting of the Pacific Scientific Review Group (Pacific SRG) along with the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Island Regional Office (PIRO) and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC). The meeting was held in the NOAA Fisheries facilities at Pier 38 in Honolulu. More... -
June 30, 2014
In April, the PIFSC's Cetacean Research Program conducted surveys for cetaceans in the waters surrounding Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in an effort to further develop a record of cetacean occurrence in the region and to gather photos and biopsy samples for population studies. More...
Recent Staff Publications
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January 25, 2018Estimating drift of directional sonobuoys from acoustic bearingsMiller BS, Wotherspoon S, Rankin S, Calderan S, Leaper R, Keating JL
[2018] Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Express Letters. 143:1. EL25-EL30. doi:10.1121/1.5020621 -
January 12, 2018Familial social structure and socially driven genetic differentiation in Hawaiian short-finned pilot whalesVan Cise AM, Martien KK, Mahaffy SD, Baird RW, Webster DL, Fowler JH, Oleson EM, Morin PA
[2017] Molecular Ecology. 26(23):6730-6741. doi:10.1111/mec.14397 -
August 25, 2017Unexpected patterns of global population structure in melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra)Martien KK, Hancock-Hanser BL, Baird RW, Kiszka JJ, Aschettino JM, Oremus M, Hill MC
[2017] Marine Ecology Progress Series. 577:205-220. doi:10.3354/meps12203 -
August 23, 2017Comparison of harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) echolocation clicks recorded simultaneously on two passive acoustic monitoring instrumentsJacobson E, Merkens KPB, Forney KA, Barlow J
[2017] U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-583. 16 p doi:10.7289/V5/TM-SWFSC-583 -
June 1, 2017Injury determinations for marine mammals observed interacting with Hawaii and American Samoa longline fisheries during 2010--2014Bradford AL, Forney KA
[2017] U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-62, 28 p. doi:10.7289/V5/TM-PIFSC-62 -
March 2, 2017Acoustically monitoring the Hawai`i longline fishery for interactions with false killer whalesBayless AR, Oleson EM, Baumann-Pickering S, Simonis AE, Marchetti J, Martin S, Wiggins SM
[2017] Fisheries Research. 190:122-131. doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2017.02.006
