San Francisco Bay Area Network Pinniped Monitoring Protocol: Version 3.02

Adams, Dawn; Press, David; Hester, Michelle; Nevins, Hannah; Roberts, Dale; Becker, Ben; Jensen, Heather; Flynn, Erin; Koenen, Marcus; Allen, Sarah

The purpose of this document is to describe the National Park Service’s monitoring program for pinniped populations that occur within the San Francisco Bay Area Network (SFAN) of parks in central California. Protocols document standardized objectives, methods, and data management to enable high quality evaluation of pinniped population status in the region. Oakley et al. (2003) provided guidance in the development of this protocol. The main purpose of the program is to monitor pinniped population status and trends and to adaptively guide management actions. Within the order Carnivora, the Pinnipedia sub-order is a group of marine mammals that includes sea lions, fur seals, true seals, and walruses. The numerically dominant pinniped species that breed, haul out, and molt in the region include the Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) and northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris). Survey effort focuses on species that breed in the parks because this information contributes significantly to the regional and stock-wide understanding of these species required under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972). The SFAN Inventory and Monitoring Program is committed to long-term, full-funding of the harbor seal monitoring program within Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. As funding permits, the SFAN will reconsider funding for the northern elephant seal monitoring program. The SFAN will continue to provide logistical and technical support to the northern elephant seal monitoring program. For this reason, this protocol and associated standard operating procedures (SOPs) encompass both monitoring programs. For simplicity’s sake, although this protocol only addresses harbor seals and northern elephant seals, it is known and referred to as the pinniped monitoring protocol. Specific objectives of the long-term harbor seal monitoring program are to: 1. Determine the long-term trends in population size and seasonal distribution of harbor seal populations at primary sites in the SFAN parks during the breeding and molt seasons. 2. Determine long-term trends in reproductive success of harbor seals through annual estimates of pup production at PORE and GOGA. 3. Determine the long-term trends in sources, frequency and level of effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on harbor seal haul out use and productivity. General guidelines for field methods, data analyses, reporting requirements, and project budgets to meet these objectives are provided in the protocol and detailed in the SOPs. The protocol and SOPs will be updated as methods are revised or as new analytical methods are adapted. Data are housed in a Microsoft Access database with front-end files available for data entry and analyses. The document outlines ongoing collaborations with other agencies and researchers. Coordination with other agencies is necessary to protect these species because their movements during migration, foraging, and molting range outside park boundaries. Protocols will be integrated with other resource agencies for compatible population analyses. The SFAN monitoring program contributes to regional and national efforts to assess pinniped population status and trends.

San Francisco Bay Area Network Pinniped Monitoring Protocol: Version 3.02

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