Dr. Amanda Bradford is a marine mammal biologist who is currently researching cetacean population dynamics for the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Bradford is currently a Research Ecologist with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's Cetacean Research Program. Her research primarily focuses on assessing populations of cetaceans, including evaluating population size, health, and impacts of human-caused threats, such as fisheries interactions. Bradford is a cofounder and organizer of the Women in Marine Mammal Science (WIMMS) Initiative.
Education
Undergraduate education
Bradford received her Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University in Galveston, Texas in 1998. She worked in the lab of Bernd Würsig.
While Bradford was an undergraduate, she was a volunteer at the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network from 1994 to 1998. Bradford, monitored live stranded delphinids and performed basic husbandry and life-support for bottlenose dolphins and false killer whales. Bradford also participated in marine mammal necropsies.
During her senior year, Bradford began analyzing photo-identification data from the western North Pacific population of gray whales. Shortly after graduation, Bradford traveled to northeastern Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East to join a collaborative Russia-U.S. field study of these whales on their primary feeding ground. Once Bradford returned from the field, she spent a year as a research assistant for this project based at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California.
Graduate education
Bradford attended the University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS) in Seattle, Washington, receiving her Masters of Science in 2003 and then Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in 2011. Bradford studied under the late Glenn VanBlaricom for both degrees.
During her time at SAFS, Bradford spent 10 summers in the Russian Far East studying the endangered western population of gray whales. Bradford's graduate research focused on estimating survival, abundance, anthropogenic impacts, and body condition of these whales. Her results showed that calf survival in the population was notably low, the population numbered only around 100 whales in the early 2000s, whales were vulnerable to fishing gear entanglement and vessel collisions, and that body condition varied by season and year. Lactating females where found to have the poorest body condition and did not always appear to recover by the end of a feeding season. Bradford also studied the age at sexual maturity and the birth-interval of the western gray whales, both important parameters for understanding the dynamics of this endangered population.
Bradford spent a lot of time as a graduate student working on photo-identification of the western gray whale population and published a paper on how to identify calves based on of their barnacle scars and pigmentation patterns.
Academic awards and honors
Bradford received the National Marine Fisheries Service - Sea Grant Joint Fellowship Program in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics and Marine Resource Economics. This fellowship is designed to support and train highly qualified PhD students to pursue careers in these fields.
Career and research
Graduate research and early career
The majority of Bradford's work while completing her PhD focused on the western gray whale population. While the population is currently listed as endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and considered to be increasing, when Bradford was researching them they were listed as critically endangered. Much of what is known about the western gray whales is a result of the work of Bradford and her international colleagues.
Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel - International Union for Conservation of Nature Bradford was responsible for synthesizing data and assisting with population analyses for the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel between 2007 and 2011. Bradford also participated in two ship-based western gray whale satellite tagging surveys off Sakhalin Island, Russia.
Western Gray Whale Project, Russia-U.S. Collaboration
Bradford participated and eventually lead western gray whale boat-based photo-identification and genetic-monitoring surveys between 1998 and 2010, which included her putting in over 1,500 hours of small boat work. Further, Bradford collected gray whale behavioral data and theodolite-tracked movement data. In addition to the gray whale work, Bradford collected information on spotted seals in the early years of the collaboration.