The Protected Resources Division (PRD) conducts applied research on the cetaceans, pinnipeds and sea turtles of the eastern Pacific Ocean. We are guided by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act; accordingly, our research is designed to aid in the management and conservation of these protected species. Our focus areas are the US Exclusive Economic Zones in the eastern Pacific, and the greater Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). PRD members also periodically oversee and participate in projects directed toward individual species, taxa, or other geographic areas, and are active in international conservation organizations, especially the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee, the IUCNCetacean and Sea Turtle Specialist Groups, and the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program. The founding issue for the Division, and still one of its primary foci, is the tuna-dolphin problem in the ETP. Other major areas of research include evaluating and monitoring the effect of fishery bycatch on marine mammal and turtle populations, developing recovery strategies for endangered sea turtles, and monitoring whale and pinniped populations as they recover from historical overharvesting.

 Director: Lisa T. Ballance, PhD