and ship survey effort in this area for 1968-75. 

 Norris et al. summarized Bureau of Land Man- 

 agement (BLM) aerial and ship surveys during 

 1975 and 1976. Although variable by month, we 

 consider this combined effort adequate at all sea- 

 sons to have detected trends in composition of 

 marine mammal fauna for the borderland and ad- 

 jacent continental slope. Coverage was particu- 

 larly thorough for the area in 1975, when NOSC 

 and BLM programs overlapped. 



Offshore Southern and Central California — 

 During 1967 and 1968, cruises of the Smithsonian 

 Institution's Pacific Ocean Biological Survey 

 program surveyed the outer California Channel 

 Islands and the area from lat. 29° to 37° N and 

 seaward to long. 126° W during all quarters of the 

 year. Marine mammal observations by experi- 

 enced personnel were logged for all cruises (R. L. 

 Brownell, Jr. ). 



Offshore Baja California North to Washing- 

 ton — More recent coverage of the area from lat. 25° 

 N to Washington State, primarily offshore, has 

 been provided by NMFS observers out of the 

 Southwest Fisheries Center (SWFC) placed on 

 commercial albacore boats. In 1971-75, observers 



'Norris, K. S., T. P. Dohl, R, C. Guero, L. J. Hobbs, and M W. 

 Honnig. 1976. Cetaceans; numbers, distribution, and move- 

 ments in the southern California Bight. 192 p Draft report to 

 Bureau of Land Management, OCSEAP. from Coastal Marine 

 Laboratory. University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. 



'"R. L. Brownell, Jr., U.S. National Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, National Fisheries and Wildlife Laboratory, Wash., DC 

 20560, pers. commun. to Leatherwood June 1975. 



Table 2. — Months during 1961-75 in which marine mammal 

 watches were maintained aboard one or more albacore vessels 

 (X) in the eastern Pacific (197 1-75), by 5° increments of latitude. 

 A total of 15 vessels were involved. '^^ 



'Laurs, R M,, and Associates 1972 Report ol )oint National Marine 

 Fisheries Service - American Fishermans Research Foundation albacore 

 sludiesconducteddunng 197t and 1972 Spec Putil SWFC, NMFS NOAA. 

 La Jolla. Cahl , 78 p 



^Laurs, R M , and Associates 1973 Report of joint National Marine 

 Fisheries Service  American Fisherman's Research Foundation albacore 

 studies conducted during 1973 Spec, Publ SWFC, NMFS, NOAA, La Jolla, 

 Calif, 



^Laurs, R M , and Associates 1974 Report of joint National Marine 

 Fisheries Service  American Fishermans Research Foundation albacore 

 studies conducted during 1974 Admin Rep 25-74-47, SWFC. NMFS, 

 NOAA, LaJol^,CaJif 



'Laurs, R M,, R J Lynn, and R N Nishimcto 1975 Report of joint 

 National Marine Fisheries Service - American Fishermans Research Founda- 

 tion albacore studies conducted during 1975 Spec, Publ, SWFC, NMFS. 

 NOAA, La Jolla, Calif 



FISHERYBULLETIN: VOL, 77,NO 4 



aboard 15 working albacore boats reported marine 

 mammal observations made between May and 

 September from lat. 25° to 46° N (Table 2). Al- 

 though the time and location of their activities 

 varied annually with the albacore migration, 

 coverage was generally restricted to summer and 

 generally moved north as the season progressed. 



Nearshore Central California — Recent aircraft 

 and ship surveys by the University of California at 

 Santa Cruz have examined the area from about 

 Point Conception north, with the most extensive 

 sampling effort in Monterey Bay. Coverage near 

 Monterey Bay has been year-round (J. D. Hall"). 

 Infrequent cruises by personnel from Hopkins 

 Marine Station and Moss Landing Marine 

 Laboratory have examined the same area (A. 

 Baldridge'^). 



Oregon and North — With one important excep- 

 tion, recorded survey effort begins to decline as 

 one moves north from California. NMFS 

 albacore-boat observer programs conducted in the 

 summer have extended north of Point Conception 

 (Table 2), and one NOSC marine mammal cruise 

 was conducted from San Diego to Kodiak, Alaska, 

 in April 1971. The primary effort, however, in- 

 cluding extensive coverage of the area from Seat- 

 tle north through the Gulf of Alaska and north- 

 west to the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea, 

 has been that by cruises of the NMFS Northwest 

 and Alaska Fisheries Center (NWAFC) Pelagic 

 Fur Seal Research Program. Over the past 10 yr, 

 these cruises have primarily spanned the fall and 

 winter months (C. H. Fiscus'^). Other research 

 cruises by NWAFC have begun in the Seattle 

 area and worked south to southern California in 

 January, February, and March (Fiscus and Nig- 

 gol 1965), while still others beginning in San 

 Francisco have worked south to the Revillagigedo 

 Islands in winter and spring (Rice 1963a, b). 



The remainder of the sighting effort for the 

 northeastern Pacific is difficult to assess, though it 



"J. D. Hall, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biologi- 

 cal Services, 800 A Street, Suite 110, Anchorage, AK 99501, 

 pers, oommun. to Leatherwood August 1975, 



'^A. Baldridge, Library, Rosenstiel School of Marine and At- 

 mospheric Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, Fla.; present 

 address: Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, pers. 

 commun. to Leatherwood 1975. 



'^CH Fiscus, Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center Marine 

 Mammal Division, NMFS, NOAA. 7600 Sand Point Way NE 

 Seattle, WA 98115, pers. commun. to Leatherwood June 1976. 



954 



