Marine Mammal Institute

With support from The American Genetic Association, a workshop on marine mammal eDNA was held at the World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona, Spain, in December 2019. Professor Scott Baker provided examples of successful application of eDNA approaches to detect killer whales. 

Jim Rice, who coordinates the statewide Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network headquartered at OSU's Marine Mammal Institute at the Hatfield Marine Science Center, urges the public to refrain from touching or approaching seal pups, which in most cases are not orphaned or abandoned. Seal pups are frequently left on the beach by their mothers, who are out looking for food.

Three years of “health check-ups” on Oregon’s summer resident gray whales shows a compelling relationship between whales’ overall body condition and changing ocean conditions that likely limited availability of prey for the mammals, a new study from Oregon State University indicates.

According to Jim Rice, stranding coordinator for the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, the boys are getting geared up to vie for a mate when they return to California during late May and June.

Last fall, Dr. Lisa Ballance took the helm as the new director of the Marine Mammal Institute (MMI) at Oregon State University. We visited with Ballance at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport to talk about her experience, research, and vision of MMI’s future.

In a new research paper by lead author Robert Pitman, scientists propose that whales that forage in polar waters migrate to low latitudes to maintain healthy skin.

The USFWS has awarded a grant to the nonprofit group Elakha Alliance to launch a feasibility study for possible reintroduction of sea otters to the Oregon coast. A newly published study by Dominique Kone in the Marine Mammal Institute found there is suitable habitat to support around 4,500 resident sea otters. Kone cautioned that wildlife managers would have to consider a range of overlapping human uses.

Nearly 10,000 Oregonians have purchased gray whale license plates since they went on sale a year ago, providing critical support for Oregon State University researchers studying gray whales that frequent Oregon’s waters.

During January 2020, the British Antarctic Survey’s wild water whales team has been conducting surveys for southern right whales all around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. MMI's Dr. Scott Baker is on the team of ten international experts from five countries (the UK, USA, Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand), which includes marine mammal observers, photo-ID specialists, geneticists, acousticians, a drone pilot, and an expert in satellite tagging. The wild water whales expedition is running for 33 days on New Zealand research vessel the R/V Braveheart.