Research Projects >Dietary
analysis and brand resights of Steller sea lions
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Dietary
Analysis and Brand Resights of Steller Sea Lions
Monitoring diet is one of the most important research
activities needed to better understand the decline and recovery
of Steller sea lions.
The goal of this project is to determine the
diet of the Steller sea lion in both southeast Alaska and British
Columbia. The dietary data will be statistically analyzed to determine
whether there is an area- specific change in diet over this region
or whether any shift in diet has occurred over time. |
What
Researchers hope to learn
What Researchers hope to learn
This study will contribute to a database of resighted branded sea
lions, and to a database of dietary iinformation. It will also help
to:
- Determine the summer diets of Steller
sea lions using rookeries and haulouts throughout southeast Alaska
and British Columbia
- Determine diet at selected sites in southeast
Alaska for comparison with assessment of fish available to Steller
sea lions.
- Resight branded Steller sea lions at haulouts
and rookeries to determine movement patterns and estimates of
survival and birth rates.
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Project Outline
Monitoring diet is one of the most important research activities needed
to better understand the decline and recovery of Steller sea lions. Resighting
known-aged sea lions is equally important and allows for survival rates
and birth rates to be calculated. This study contributes to understanding
how the diet of sea lions in the growing southeast Alaska and British
Columbia population differs from the troubled populations in the Gulf
of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. It will also provide insight into the
diets of sea lions relative to the availability of prey.
One or two scat (feces) collectors will accompany the Alaska Department
of Fish and Game (ADF&G) cruise in southeast Alaska, while one or
two brand resighters from ADF&G or the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) will be invited to participate in a Consortium cruise.
Principal Investigtors:
Andrew W. Trites, University of British Columbia
Collaborating Investigators:
Peter F. Olesiuk, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Lorrie Rea, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Funding Source:
NOAA and the North Pacific Marine Science Foundation
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