NOAA's National Marine Mammal Laboratory

Abstract

T H E National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) was established in 1978 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to study marine mammals worldwide in order to meet international commitments and domestic legislation. Located at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Sand Point facility along Lake Washington in Seattle, the NMML is a division of the Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center (NWAFC) and is housed in 2,500 m 2 of office and laboratory space, including a marine mammal library containing over 20,000 holdings. The responsibility of the NMFS is to investigate fishery resources and protected species with the long-range goal to understand how marine ecosystems function. Research by the NMML addresses specific management problems and theoretical questions about the biology and ecology of marine mammals. For example, the NMML began to study the bowhead whale and Dall 's porpoise in the late 1970's because of concerns raised by the International Whaling Commission and International North Pacific Fisheries Commission about the status of these two species. Because of the lack of data on whether the take of bowheads by Alaskan Eskimos would cause the bowhead population to become extinct, pressure was placed on the U.S. Government to stop the hunt. NOAA policy supported the Eskimo request to allow the hunt to continue, but at a reduced level sanctioned by the International Whaling Commission. Research on Dali 's porpoise began in 1978 because of the incidental take of marine mammals and birds in Japan's billion-dollar high seas salmon fishery. Japan was allowed to continue fishing in U.S. waters in exchange for funding U.S. research to determine the effects of incidental take on Dali 's porpoise. In 1987, the high seas salmon fishery was closed after successful litigation against the U.S. Government by conservation organizations and western