Dear MARMAM colleagues, My coauthors and I are pleased to share our new open access publication: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v635/p1-7/ Test of unmanned surface vehicles to conduct remote focal follow studies of a marine predator Carey E. Kuhn1, Alex De Robertis2, Jeremy Sterling1, Calvin W. Mordy3,4, Christian Meinig4, Noah Lawrence-Slavas4, Edward Cokelet4, Mike Levine2, Heather Tabisola3,4, Richard Jenkins5, David Peacock5, Danny Vo6 1Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Seattle, Washington, USA 2 Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering Division, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, Seattle, Washington, USA 3Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA 4Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA, Seattle, Washington, USA 5Saildrone Inc., Alameda, California, USA 6Wildlife Computers Inc., Redmond, Washington, USA Abstract: We tested the feasibility of using Saildrone unmanned wind- and solar-powered surface vehicles to conduct remote focal follow studies of northern fur seals Callorhinus ursinus. Using Argos satellite and transmitted GPS locations, the Saildrones followed a fur seal while recording oceanographic conditions and mapping prey abundance and depth distribution using a scientific echosounder. The Saildrones successfully followed 6 fur seals over 2.4 ± 0.2 d and 149.7 ± 16.3 km of the foraging path. Median separation distance between the Saildrone and fur seal path was 0.65 ± 0.1 km and average time separation was 9.9 ± 1.4 h, with minimum time separations ranging from 1.9 to 4.9 h. Time and distance separation were a function of both animal behavior and study design. Our results show that Saildrones can approach satellite tracked marine predators from long distances and follow them over extended periods while collecting oceanographic and prey data. These successful focal follows demonstrate that unmanned surface vehicles are a valuable tool for collecting data on fine-scale relationships between marine predators, their prey, and the environment. Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Cheers, Carey Kuhn Ecologist Marine Mammal Laboratory / NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA