Contaminants, lipids, fatty acids, and stable isotopes in tissues of various marine mammals (Biomonitoring of marine mammals as part of the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP))

The Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) was established in 1992 under Title IV of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The MMHSRP operates in support of the Recovered Protected Species goal of the NOAA Fisheriess Strategic Plan. The Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) is the NOAA Fisheries lead for the biomonitoring components and quality assurance of chemical analyses for the Program. Information generated by these components addresses deficiencies in data quality and quantity on the levels of toxic chemicals in marine mammals, improves methods and approaches for describing linkages between chemical exposure and certain biological effects, helps describe the feeding ecology of these marine resources, and improves the dissemination of the information to resource managers and constituents. The collection and dissemination of this high quality data will increase the understanding of the causes of disease and mortality events in marine mammals and help assess the status and trends in contaminant accumulation by U.S. marine mammal populations. Concentrations of POPs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their metabolites, total lipid and lipid profiles, fatty acids, and stable isotopes in samples derived from marine mammal biopsies and necropsies.