Fish consumption by harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in the San Juan Islands, Washington

The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) is a large-bodied and abundant predator in the Salish Sea ecosystem, and its population has recovered since the 1970s after passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the cessation of bounties. Little is known about how this large predator population may affect the recovery of fish stocks in the Salish Sea, where candidate marine protected areas are being proposed. We used a bioenergetics model to calculate baseline consumption rates in the San Juan Islands, Washington. Salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) and herring (Clupeidae) were the 2 most energetically important prey groups for biomass consumed by harbor seals. Estimated consumption of salmonids was 783 (±380 standard deviation [SD]) metric tons (t) in the breeding season and 675 (±388 SD t in the nonbreeding season. Estimated consumption of herring was 646 (±303 SD) t in the breeding season and 2151 (±706 SD) t in the nonbreeding season. Rockfish, a depressed fish stock currently in need of population recovery, composed one of the minor prey groups consumed by harbor seals (84 [±26 SD] t in the nonbreeding season). The variables of seal body mass and proportion of prey in seal diet explained >80% of the total variation in model outputs. Prey groups, such as rockfish, that are targeted for recovery may still be affected by even low levels of predation. This study highlights the importance of salmonids and herring for the seal population and provides a framework for refining consumption estimates and their confidence intervals with future data.

Bathyraja panthera, a new species of skate (Rajidae: Arhynchobatinae) from the western Aleutian Islands, and resurrection of the subgenus Arctoraja Ishiyama

We provide morphological and molecular evidence to recognize a new species of skate from the North Pacific, Bathyraja panthera. We also resurrect the skate subgenus Arctoraja Ishiyama, confirming its monophyly and the validity of the subgenus. Arctoraja was previously recognized as a distinct subgenus of Breviraja and later synonymized with Bathyraja (family Rajidae). Although the nominal species of Arctoraja have all been considered synonyms of Bathyraja parmifera by various authors, on the basis of morphometric, meristic, chondrological, and molecular data we recognize four species, including the new species. Species of Arctoraja are distributed across the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas from southern Japan to British Columbia. Bathyraja parmifera is abundant in the eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and northern Gulf of Alaska; B. smirnovi is a western Pacific species found in the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan; B. simoterus is restricted to waters around the northern and eastern coasts of Hokkaido, Japan; and the new species B. panthera is restricted to the western Aleutian Islands. Bathyraja panthera is diagnosed by its color pattern of light yellow blotches with black spotting on a greenish brown background, high thorn and vertebral counts, chondrological characters of the neurocranium and clasper, and a unique nucleotide sequence within the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene. Furthermore, the species presently recognized as Bathyraja parmifera exhibits two haplotypes among specimens from Alaska, suggesting the possibility of a second, cryptic species.

An ecological characterization of Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, U.S. Virgin Islands

Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (hereafter, SARI or the park) was created in 1992 to preserve, protect, and interpret nationally significant natural, historical, and cultural resources (United States Congress 1992). The diverse ecosystem within it includes a large mangrove forest, a submarine canyon, coral reefs, seagrass beds, coastal forests, and many other natural and developed landscape elements. These ecosystem components are, in turn, utilized by a great diversity of flora and fauna. A comprehensive spatial inventory of these ecosystems is required for successful management. To meet this need, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Biogeography Program, in consultation with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Government of the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (VIDPNR), conducted an ecological characterization. The characterization consists of three complementary components: a text report, digital habitat maps, and a collection of historical aerial photographs. This ecological characterization provides managers with a suite of tools that, when coupled with the excellent pre-existing body of work on SARI resources, enables improved research and monitoring activities within the park (see Appendix F for a list of data products).