{"id":3666,"date":"2020-10-05T10:27:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T17:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=3666"},"modified":"2020-10-05T10:41:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T17:41:03","slug":"marine-mammals-of-the-northern-california-current-2020-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2020\/10\/05\/marine-mammals-of-the-northern-california-current-2020-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine mammals of the Northern California Current, 2020 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dawn Barlow<\/a>, PhD student, OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clara<\/a> and I have just returned from ten fruitful days at sea<\/a> aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada as part of the Northern California Current (NCC) ecosystem survey. We surveyed between Crescent City, California and La Push, Washington, collecting data on oceanography, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and marine mammals (Fig. 1). This year represents the third year I have participated in these NCC cruises, which I have come to cherish. I have become increasingly confident in my marine mammal observation and species identification skills, and I have become more accepting of the things out of my control \u2013 the weather, the sea state, the many sightings of \u201cunidentified whale species\u201d. Careful planning and preparation are critical, and yet out at sea we are ultimately at the whim of the powerful Pacific Ocean. Another aspect of the NCC cruises that I treasure is the time spent with members of the science team from other disciplines. The chatter about water column features, musings about plankton species composition, and discussions about what drives marine mammal distribution present lively learning opportunities throughout the cruise. Our concurrent data collection efforts and ongoing conversations allow us to piece together a comprehensive picture of this dynamic NCC ecosystem, and foster a collaborative research environment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1. <\/strong>Data collection effort for the NCC September 2020 cruise, between Crescent City, CA, and La Push, WA. Red points represent oceanographic sampling stations, and black lines show the track of the research vessel during marine mammal survey effort. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Every time I head to sea, I am reminded of the patchy distribution of resources in the vast and dynamic marine environment. On this recent cruise we documented a stark contrast between  expansive stretches of warm, blue, stratified, and seemingly empty ocean and areas that were plankton-rich and supported multi-species feeding frenzies that had marine mammal observers like me scrambling to keep track of everything. This year, we were greeted by dozens of blue and humpback whales in the productive waters off Newport, Oregon. Off Crescent City, California, the water was very warm, the plankton community was dominated by gelatinous species like pyrosomes, salps, and other jellies, and the marine mammals were virtually absent except for a few groups of common dolphins. To the north, the plume of water flowing from the Columbia River created a front between water masses, where we found ourselves in the midst of pacific white-sided dolphins, northern right whale dolphins, and humpback whales. These observations highlight the strength of ecosystem-scale and multi-disciplinary data collection efforts such as the NCC surveys. By drawing together information on physical oceanography, primary productivity, zooplankton community composition and abundance, and marine predator distribution, we can gain a nearly comprehensive picture of the dynamics within the NCC over a broad spatial scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n