574 



Fishery Bulletin 102(4) 



Figure 6 



Locations of small cetaceans seen during ship surveys off the northern Washington 

 coast between 1995 and 2002. 



cally yielding an estimated abundance of 876 porpoises 

 (CV=0.30, Table 8). Confidence intervals for some of the 

 annual estimates overlapped among years. 



of 28 occasions. All but one of these sightings were of 

 a single animal. Elephant seals were seen in all years 

 except 1998 and 2002. 



Pinnipeds 



Pinnipeds were not as frequently observed as cetaceans 

 • Table 3, Fig. 7). The two most pelagic species observed 

 in this region, northern fur seals and elephant seals, 

 were the most commonly seen pinnipeds. Northern fur 

 seals were observed every year except 2002 on a total 



Habitat differences 



A number of broad habitat patterns emerged for differ- 

 ent groups of species based on their association with 

 water depth and distance from shore during the ship 

 surveys from 1995 to 2000 (Table 9, data were not avail- 

 able for 2002). Five species were seen in shallow waters 



