Long-term monitoring of humpback whale predation on Pacific herring in Prince William Sound

1. Long-term monitoring of humpback whale predation on Pacific herring in Prince William Sound Primary Investigators: John Moran (NOAA) & Jan Straley (UAS Sitka) Co-operating investigator: Terry Quinn (UAF)

2. Statement of Problem • Humpback whales eat herring. • Humpback whale population in the North Pacific increasing at 5-7% annually. • Predation in Prince William Sound is approaching 20% of the spawning stock biomass • Need to continue evaluating predation pressure on herring until stocks in Prince William Sound fully recover.

3. Goals &Objectives • Population estimates of humpback whales through the use of photographic mark- recapture models. • Monitor the seasonal trends of humpback whales in Prince William Sound relative to prey. • Estimate inter-annual trends in humpback whale abundance. • Determine the diet and dietary shifts of humpback whales. • Estimate predation rates on herring by humpback whales. • Incorporate mortality rates into herring age structure models.

4. Project Logistics Humpback whale vessel survey schedule for Prince William Sound. • Opportunistic surveys throughout the year. • Shore-based monitoring of Sawmill Bay.

5. Distribution of Whales in PWSWhere we focus our effort.

6. Data Management • Humpback whale data(observation, diet, photographs, etc.) will be stored in the Access Data managed at UAS Sitka. • Biological data from prey (chemistry, energy) will be stored in the Lipids data base at ABL.

7. Alaska humpback whale database

8. Collaborations • Killer whale monitoring - ID photographs when encountered.(LTM) • Seabirds – Seabird observer on all whale cruises.(LTM) • OA – Water sample and CTD cast. • Collection – Zooplankton and fish when requested.(Herring) • Other – Non EVOS ( stable isotopes, genetics) • Data that would help us: • Locations and numbers of whales. • Information on prey. • Effort (time and distance).

9. Data from this project feed into herring ASA model.