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Commission Newsletter • Fall 2025
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Commission Announces Fiscal Year 2026 Grant Program!
Accepting Pre-Proposals until January 16th, 2026
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This year, the Commission requests proposals that focus on advancing technologies and methods to improve marine mammal stock assessments and mitigate impacts.
Please consider submitting a pre-proposal by January 16th 2026 under one or both of the following priority topic areas.
A. Improving Stock Assessments
Projects should improve estimation of key elements of marine mammal stock assessments. Approaches may include the development of new technologies, innovative applications of existing methods, new analytical approaches, or community-based science.
B. Mitigating Stressors
Projects should either (a) develop, adapt, or apply tools, methods, or practices that reduce human-caused mortality and serious injury, or (b) support the development of forecasting tools to anticipate and manage conservation challenges associated with environmental change, human activities, or the combined effects of both. Proposals should demonstrate potential for measurable individual and population-level benefits and have clear conservation value. Project products should be designed for integration with marine mammal management mechanisms, including but not limited to stock assessments, take reduction plans, ESA consultations, or implementation of risk-reduction measures.
For more information:
visit our Current Funding Opportunities Website
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2025 Annual Meeting of the Marine Mammal Commission
Held in Southern California
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The Commission held its 2025 Annual Meeting on September 9-11 in La Jolla, California, focusing on emerging technologies to improve efficiency and support innovation for marine mammal stock assessments. Assessing marine mammal stocks gives us valuable information on population trends, productivity rates, estimates of human-caused mortality and other sources of serious injury, and more. These assessments allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation and recovery measures, and to adjust management approaches as needed. The Commission also received regional updates on multiple hot topics in the California Current Ecosystem.
The three-day meeting was public and well attended with over 300 participants in-person and online. Presentations and video recordings are available on our 2025 Annual Meeting webpage.
| | Commissioners, Scientific Advisors, and staff gathered at the meeting in La Jolla, CA. | | |
Hot Topics in Marine Mammal Conservation:
Collaboration to Reduce Killer Whale Entanglements
| | Photo by Dr. Hannah Myers, UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences | | |
In 2020, captains of the deep-water flatfish trawl fleet started to see increased killer whale activity around their nets while fishing in the Bering Sea. These interactions increased with each passing year, most notably in 2023 when six whales were killed and one seriously injured due to accidental entanglements in the fishery.
The Alaska Seafood Cooperative, an organization that coordinates the fleet, had already reached out to Dr. Hannah Myers, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), to investigate whale behavior around the boats. Following acoustic observations and vessel-based monitoring, vessel captains, net makers, industry scientists, and Dr. Myers collaborated to develop, test, and trial a gear modification to deter whales from entering the trawl. The gear was used across the Bering Sea trawl fishery targeting deep-water flatfish in 2024 and updated in 2025, with no mortalities this fishing season.
This fruitful collaboration is a testament to the fishery's initiative to find a viable solution, partnership with scientists, and funding made available by organizations like the NOAA Fisheries Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program, the NOAA Alaska Regional Office Protected Resources Division, the Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center, and the Alaska Seafood Cooperative For more information, visit the UAF press release.
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North Atlantic Right Whale Updates | |
The Ropeless Consortium and North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW) Consortium held their annual meetings at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA from October 20-23rd. These meetings provide an opportunity to share research and management updates and to engage in open dialogue about future directions.
At the Ropeless Consortium, harvesters emphasized the need for technical solutions that minimize interactions between ropeless gear and mobile gear fleets. Manufacturers shared updates on ongoing developments, including improvements in data transmission, gear retrieval processes, interoperability, and enforcement technology.
At the NARW Consortium, researchers reported cautiously hopeful news: to-date, there have been no documented NARW mortalities in 2025 and the estimated population size for 2024 is 384 individuals, a 2.1% increase from 2023. There have been a couple of recorded injuries this year: thus far, there has been one recorded entanglement and one vessel strike. Eleven calves were born during the 2025 calving season, four of which were to first-time mothers. The next calving season is upon us, with the first mother and calf pair already sighted, and survey efforts have begun in the Southeast. Presentations included updates from the Maine Department of Marine Resources on their response to the NARW aggregation on Jeffrey’s Ledge in January 2025, and from the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries on state-level conservation efforts, including passive acoustic monitoring systems, dynamic fisheries closures, expansion of surveys, and gear marking. Researchers also shared new work on distribution, feeding ecology, and various health indicators including photogrammetry, epigenetics, and baleen-based reproductive hormone analysis.
| | Marine Mammal Commission scientific advisors, staff, and science in the news! | | Below are a few recent media highlights that reflect some of the ongoing scientific research, collaborations, and accomplishments of our world-renowned marine mammal scientists. For a reminder about our Commissioners, Committee of Scientific Advisors, and Staff, visit our website. | | | | |
