Jim Harvey

Biography: 

Director Jim Harvey, has taught at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories since 1989. Himself a 1979 graduate of the Moss Landing Masters program, he returned to chair the Vertebrate Ecology Lab after obtaining a Ph.D. in Oceanography (with minors in Wildlife Ecology and Statistics) at Oregon State University in 1987, and completing a NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship with NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, Washington, in 1989.

Dr. Harvey’s research interests include the ecology, morphology, and behavior of marine mammals, birds, and turtles; VHF/satellite-telemetry; marine mammal/fisheries interactions; vertebrate sampling techniques and experimental design; age and growth; population and trophic dynamics; and marine mammal stranding studies. His past research has included studies of population dynamics, food consumption, and behavior of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina); behavior of rehabilitated harbor seals released to the wild; use of acoustical deterrents in marine mammal/fisheries conflicts; radio-tagging gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus); and potential effects of toxic pollution on harbor seal health and reproduction. He was involved in the responses to a 1979 mass stranding of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) on the Oregon coast, the 1988 entrapment of three gray whales in the ice near Barrow, Alaska, and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

Currently, Dr. Harvey’s research includes studies regarding feeding ecology of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii); pinniped/fishery interactions; assessing natural and anthropogenic changes in populations of birds, mammals, and turtles in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary; and development of remote attachment and release mechanisms for data recorders on cetaceans, pinnipeds, and sea turtles.

Dr. Harvey serves on a federally-mandated Task Force devoted to sea lion/steelhead fisheries interactions at the Ballard Locks in Washington. He is a member of the Research Activity Panel for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Reserve Advisory Committee for the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the Research Advisory Committee for The Marine Mammal Center.

Research Interests: 

• Marine mammals, birds, and turtles
• Foraging ecology
• Anthropogenic effects

Curriculum Vitae:

• James Harvey CV 2020

Selected Publications

• Prey and plastic ingestion of Pacific Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis rogersii) from Monterey Bay, California
• Surveillance for zoonotic and selected pathogens in harbor seals phoca vitulina from central California
• Determining a correction factor for aerial surveys of harbor seals in California
• Pupping-site fidelity among individual Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) at Chiswell Island, Alaska
• Acoustic evidence that harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) avoid bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
• Acoustic evidence that harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) avoid bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
• Cephalopod remains from stomachs of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) that mass-stranded along the Oregon coast
• Movement, dive behavior, and survival of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) posttreatment for domoic acid toxicosis
• Potential prey resources for Marbled Murrelets in central California
• Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in multiple tissues of wild and captive harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) off the California coast
• The acoustic identification and enumeration of scyphozoan jellyfish, prey for leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), off central California
• Selenium and mercury concentrations in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) from central California: Health implications in an urbanized estuary
• Diet estimation in California sea lions, Zalophus californianus
• Abundance, distribution, and habitat of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) off California, 1990-2003
• Assessing the relationship between gulls Larus spp. and Pacific salmon in central California using radiotelemetry
• Chronic oiling of marine birds in California by natural petroleum seeps, shipwrecks, and other sources
• Food habits of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) as an indicator of invasive species in San Francisco Bay, California
• Diet of a piscivorous seabird reveals spatiotemporal variation in abundance of forage fishes in the Monterey Bay region
• Marine mammal response to interannual variability in Monterey Bay, California
• Internesting movements and behavior of hawksbill turtles (Ertemochelys imbricata) around Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands