Looking east after a storm.

The MWVCRC has its own grant and contract funded laboratory research programs, as well as collaborative marine ecosystem health research focus.

The MWVCRC provides pathology and laboratory diagnostic investigation services for marine animal mortality events, in particular sentinel species such as sea otters (approximately 90% of all dead southern sea otters are necropsied here), archiving of tissues and specimens for legal and ephemeral data collection, subsequent retrospective research, and cooperation with National Marine Fisheries Service, USGS/BRD-National Wildlife Health Lab, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs.

The field research program maintains a sea otter dive/capture team, with specialized dive equipment and boats and has formal programmatic links with the USGS/BRD-Western Ecological Research Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Marine Mammal Center, and the University of California-Davis to support work on free-living animals.

The MWVCRC also has an animal care program overseen by its own Institutional Animal Care and use Committee (as required under the Animal Welfare Act) and maintains a small number of research animals in cooperation with several University of California and California State University programs.

Quick Statistics about the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center:

• Core Operating Budget 1997 (DFG-OSPR funded): $700,000
  
• Core Operating Budget 2007 (DFG-OSPR funded): $1.4 Million
  
• Grants Received 2007: $200,000
  
• Staff Members 1997: 6 (FT) / 2 (PT)
  
• Staff Members 2007: 16 (FT) / 6 (PT)
  
• Volunteers 1997 (non-convergent): 0
  
• Volunteers 2007 (non-convergent): 4
• Number of Times MWVCRC Used as a Primary Response Site for Oil Spills Since 1997: 6
  
• Total Number of Animals Treated Since 1997 (in cooperation with other OWCN facilities): 2,614
• Total Spills Participated in as Member of the OWCN (offsite/field response, transport, supplies, logistics): 14

For More Information:

Visit our Oil Spill Response page.
For a more in-depth overview of our facility, go to the About Our Facility section.
For current news, go to the News section.

1997 Facility Dedication Press Release via DFG-OSPR