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The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's (PIFSC) Cetacean Research Program (CRP) has been conducting visual surveys for cetaceans in the waters surrounding Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) as part of an ongoing effort to develop a record of cetacean occurrence in the region. Visual surveys have been conducted aboard small boats (7.6--12.2 m) since 2010 off the southernmost islands of the Mariana Archipelago (Guam, Rota, Saipan, Tinian, and Aguijan). These surveys include the collection of photographs for individual identification, tissue samples for genetic analysis of population structure, and the deployment of satellite tags for assessment of individual movements throughout the broader region. These surveys are conducted in partnership with the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Environmental Readiness Division, which is mandated by Letters of Authorization and Biological Opinions issued under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to monitor cetaceans within the Mariana Islands Training and Testing (MITT) study area. Data sets from the small-boat survey efforts are used to evaluate the distribution, stock structure, and movements of cetaceans within the study area. This report includes a summary of the most recent visual surveys that were conducted in the 'winter' (March) and 'summer' (MayJune) of 2016.

This report includes a summary of the most recent visual surveys that were conducted in the winter (February–March) and summer (August–September) of 2015, the movements of a false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) that were satellite tagged during the PIFSC Mariana Archipelago Cetacean Survey in May–June, 2015, the results of nuclear and mitochondrial analysis of short-finned pilot whale samples collected during small-boat surveys of the southernmost Mariana islands (2011–2014), and analysis of beaked whale occurrence long-term passive acoustic data set for 2014–15. Analyses of acoustic data for baleen whales are still underway and will be reported at a later time.