Distribution and Abundance of Marbled Murrelets and Common Murres on the Outer Coast of Washington Summer 1997 through Winter 1998-1999

For the summers of 1997 and 1998, and winters of 1997-1998 and 1998-1999, the Tenyo Maru Trustee's Council (TMTC), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Washington Department of Natural Resources Funded Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to complete a variety of specific tasks related to three general objectives: (1) further document the summer and winter at-sea distribution and abundance of Common Murres and Marbled Murrelets along the outer coast of Washington and Strait of Juan de Fuca, (2) conduct surveys of potential Common Murre breeding colonies along the central coast of Washington, and (3) document post-breeding dispersal of of Common Murres from the breeding colonies in Oregon northward along the outer coast of Washington and eastward along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The specific tasks associated with each of these objectives were completed; analyses of the data collected for each of these tasks are presented and discussed.