Abundance and Distribution of Northern Elephant Seals in California

NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service has conducted aerial photographic surveys since 1990 to count West Coast pinniped populations in California and southern Oregon in order to monitor abundance, distribution, and trends of the U.S. stocks. In 2023, we conducted a complete survey of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) along the coastlines of California and the California Channel Islands that comprise the U.S. breeding population. Here, we report northern elephant seal abundance estimates from the 2023 survey and present a revised method for estimating total population abundance.