September 5, 2018 — Seals, some sick and others already dead, continue to wash up on New England shores as fishery managers and marine researchers scramble to identify what is causing the largest unusual seal mortality in this region since 2011.
On Tuesday, NOAA Fisheries updated its preliminary numbers to show that, in the period between July 1 and Aug. 29, 599 harbor and gray seals — 462 dead and 137 alive — were stranded on the coastlines of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Since the previous preliminary count was completed on Aug. 25, 55 newly counted dead seals were among the 67 seals that washed ashore in New England, according to the figures supplied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The strandings have occurred from Down East Maine to Massachusetts’ North Shore — including at least one in Rockport last week and four on Gloucester’s Coffin Beach two weeks ago — and prompted NOAA last Friday to issue an unusual mortality event for Northeast gray and harbor seals.
The issuance of the unusual mortality event, which NOAA Fisheries has used in the past in efforts to protect Gulf of Maine cod and northern right whale populations, is the regulatory equivalent of a clarion call.