Saving Seafood

Rare Visitors: Harp Seals in New England

March 12, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

While we’re used to seeing harbor and gray seals in New England, we occasionally get seal visitors from the Arctic. In late winter, it’s not unusual—though it is rare—to see harp seals on our beaches.

Sometimes well-meaning people come across these seals and, while wanting to help them, do exactly the things that cause these animals stress.

Find out more about these seals, and what you should do — and not do — if you come across one on the beach.

Read the full release here

NOAA concerned with parasite that kills monk seals that’s spread by cat feces

February 21, 2020 — Toxoplasmosis, a parasite found in cat-feces is threatening the survival of Hawaiian Monk Seals. It’s deadly and it works quickly. According to scientists with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, it can kill within 48 hours. It’s listed as one of the top three threats against the endangered species.

Dating back to the 90’s, NOAA reports at least 12 seals have died because of Toxoplasmosis. There’s no exact count because not every corpse has been recovered.

“That doesn’t sound like a very high number but when there’s only 250 to 300 animals in the population that are being impacted by this, it’s significant,” Charles Littnan, Protected Species Division Director, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, said.

It spreads when cat feces are washed into the ocean, contaminating the water. One seal was killed last month. Another, Pohaku, is recovering after a bystander spotted her logging or floating in the water.

Read the full story at KITV

ALASKA: Bristol Bay seal suit: Endangered listing could disrupt Pebble Mine permit

February 13, 2020 — On Wednesday, Feb. 12, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reportedly conceded that there may be a new hurdle on the horizon for Pebble Mine permitting.

On Feb. 6, the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit seeking Endangered Species Act protection for Lake Iliamna harbor seals, one of only two harbor seal populations living exclusively in fresh water, whose population now numbers about 400, according to the center.

“Alaska’s unique and imperiled freshwater seals need federal protection,” said Kristin Carden, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Pebble Mine threatens the very survival of the Iliamna Lake seals and the fish species they depend on to survive. Even if the mine is stopped, climate change will drive these rare and beautiful animals toward extinction.”

Subsistence hunters in the region harvest lake seals. The center advises that its lawsuit would not interfere with subsistence hunting or fishing by Alaska natives. Whether it may affect commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay remains to be seen.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Researchers Return to Study Gray Seal Pups in New England

February 6, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

It’s gray seal pupping season in New England! NOAA researchers are working with colleagues to gather data from pups on Muskeget and Monomoy islands off the southeastern Massachusetts coast.

Pupping season generally runs from mid-December to early February, peaking in mid-January. Our researchers have conducted studies of animal abundance, distribution, and health on the islands in January for the past eight years. One research team is working on Muskeget Island off Nantucket, the largest gray seal breeding and pupping colony in the United States. Another team is on Monomoy, an island near Chatham on Cape Cod that is part of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge.

Kimberly Murray, who coordinates the seal research program at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Woods Hole Laboratory and leads the team on Muskeget Island, outlined the teams’ goals. “We plan to place 20 satellite tags and nine acoustic tags on the weaned gray seal pups, and to collect as many health samples from pups as we can. Our goal is to sample 50 pups on Muskeget and 100 on Monomoy, but that depends on factors such as weather conditions, scheduling, and departure of weaned pups.”

The team also sampled 14 weaned gray seal pups on Seal Island in Maine. They placed five satellite tags and two acoustic tags on seal pups there to learn where those pups go. On January 30 researchers sampled and tagged 15 gray seal pups on the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, which includes Great Point Light, on Nantucket and collected scat or seal poop for microbiome/microplastics/food habits work.

Read the full release here

US biologists eye unusual deaths of Alaska ice seals

September 13, 2019 — Seals that rely on sea ice off Alaska’s northwest coast have been dying at uncommon rates, and federal marine mammal biologists Thursday declared an “unusual mortality event.”

The cause of death for nearly 300 ringed, bearded and spotted seals since June 1, 2018, is not known, according to the fisheries arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the management agency for the marine mammals.

“We’re looking at a broad spectrum of possible causes and trying to rule out what we can and narrow it down,” NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman Julie Speegle said.

Viruses, bacteria and algal blooms are possible causes. Water temperature in the northern Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea the last two summers have been higher than normal. The agency is looking at possible ecosystem influences, including diminished sea ice, Speegle said.

Alaska Native coastal communities hunt all three seals for meat and hides as part of a subsistence life.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Sharks and seals: A success story on Cape Cod

July 1, 2019 — Eighteen years ago, charter boat captain Joseph Fitzback and his customers held on tight as a 14-foot great white stripped a striped bass off a fishing line, then rocked the boat with a couple of exploratory bumps, 2 miles off Chatham’s Lighthouse Beach.

Television crews and reporters lined up to interview Fitzback, but as the numbers of seals, and the sharks pursuing them, have increased, such interactions are almost commonplace. In a relatively short time the Cape has evolved from ocean playground to wilderness experience, and today Fitzback’s story might get little more than a few hits on social media.

By now, the first of perhaps hundreds of great whites, the largest such aggregation on the East Coast, have returned to the Cape for the summer from their winter grounds to the south. They are hunting a gray seal population that has exploded from almost zero in the 1970s to nearly 30,000, possibly as many as 50,000, today, depending on the science you choose to believe.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Sound barrier to chase seals, prevent shark attacks debated

May 29, 2019 — A Cape Cod company has proposed building a sonic barrier around the region’s beaches to chase away seals and prevent shark attacks.

Deep Blue LLC presented its idea Wednesday at a public meeting in Barnstable. It sparked a broader debate about addressing the region’s massive seal population.

The company envisions a system of underwater audio devices that will emit a sound unpleasant to seals.

Owners Willy Planinshek and Kevin McCarthy say that if the seals leave the area, the great white sharks that eat them will follow.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Seals on a comeback, attracting sharks

May 28, 2019 — Seals have rebounded to healthy numbers along Massachusetts’ shores after being nearly decimated by early settlers and a bounty that later wiped out tens of thousands of them, according to experts — and that is what is attracting sharks.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there are at least 27,000 gray seals and 75,000 harbor seals in U.S. waters during their breeding seasons.

“What we’re witnessing is a comeback to a really healthy marine environment,” said Kimberly Murray, seal program lead at NOAA Fisheries in Woods Hole.

The numbers are a stark contrast to the 1700s, when gray seals had been nearly wiped out during the first 100 years of New England settlement, said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium in Boston.

By the late 1800s, the seals had rebounded, but conflicts with commercial fisheries and a desire for the seals’ meat and pelts led to a bounty on both gray and harbor seals from 1888 to 1962 in Massachusetts and Maine. During those years, as many as 135,000 seals were killed, Murray said.

“Seals were perceived as competitors to fisherman,” LaCasse said. “Fishermen would carry shotguns in their boats and shoot them on sight.”

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

NOAA teams departing for expedition to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

May 15, 2019 — It’s time again for a team of researchers to head out to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, where they will set up camps for the next five months.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ship Oscar Elton Sette departs on Wednesday for Papahanaumokuakea, one of the largest, protected marine conservation areas in the world and home to endangered Hawaiian monk seals, threatened green turtles and millions of seabirds.

NOAA researchers this year will conduct the usual tasks — measuring and tagging all weaned Hawaiian monk seal pups, conducting beach counts and removing marine debris. A team of biologists will also measure and tag basking and nesting sea turtles and monitor nesting activities at French Frigate Shoals.

Another field team, however, will focus on researching how animals responded to the loss of East Island at French Frigate Shoals, where a majority of Hawaii’s green sea turtles nest, and dozens of Hawaiian monk seals pup. East Island was washed away by Hurricane Walaka in October 2018.

Field researchers from NOAA, along with six partner organizations, will focus their research and conservation activities at French Frigate Shoals as well as Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl and Hermes Reef and Kure Atoll. They will also take day trips to survey Niihau, Nihoa, and Mokumanamana islands and Midway Atoll.

The NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette will transport state Department of Land and Natural Resources staff and supplies to Kure Atoll. At Lisianski Island, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will help the NOAA team find routes through the dense vegetation that blocks the shoreline and access to monk seals.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Partnering to Protect and Study Monk Seals and Sea Turtles: Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Field Camps 2019

May 15, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette will deploy researchers to set up camps in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for 5 months. Field researchers from NOAA and six partner organizations will conduct research and conservation activities at French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl and Hermes Reef, and Kure Atoll. They will also take day trips to survey Niʻihau Island, Nihoa Island, Mokumanamana Island, and Midway Atoll.

Over the next 5 months, these field teams will measure and tag all weaned seal pups, identify all individuals, conduct beach counts of seals, remove marine debris, and conduct additional scientific and recovery efforts to protect the Hawaiian monk seal population. Additionally, a team of sea turtle biologists will be deployed at French Frigate Shoals to monitor nesting activities, assess nesting and hatching success, and measure and tag basking and nesting turtles.

To protect these fragile ecosystems from invasive species, the crew must quarantine anything brought ashore. That includes clothes, tents, stoves, boats, solar power arrays, computers, and provisions sufficient to sustain teams of 2–7 scientists for the length of their stay. They transport the gear by hand from the ship to small boats, which shuttle it to the islands.

One of the field teams will have a special focus this year at French Frigate Shoals. In October 2018, Hurricane Walaka passed through the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and caused major damage to the islands of this atoll. East Island, where a majority of Hawaiʻi’s green sea turtles nest and dozens of monk seals pup, was completely washed away. Over the summer, field staff will research how animals respond to the loss of this important island.

Read the full release here