| Abstract: |
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides for the cryogenic banking of marine mammal tissues in the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB). The purpose of the NMMTB is to maintain quality controlled marine mammal tissues to permit retrospective analyses for the purpose of determining environmental trends and conducting analyses using new and innovative analytical techniques. The NMMTB was formally established in 1992 by the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Act (Public Law 102-587). Marine mammal tissues are collected through two projects, the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP) and the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) and are maintained at NIST s National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and at the Marine Environmental Specimen Bank (Marine ESB), Hollings Marine Laboratory, in Charleston, South Carolina. This document contains the current inventory through December 31, 2005 and includes information such as: species, collection location, animal morphometrics, tissues collected, and current status of the tissues. |
