The Distribution and Abundance of Seals in the Canadian High Arctic, 1980–82

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Kingsley, M. C. S., Stirling, I., Calvert, W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1985
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Parry; Rotten; Barrow Strait; Jones Sound; Wellington Channel; Prince of Wales Strait; Amundsen Gulf; Erignathus barbatus; Parry Channel; Phoca hispida; sverdrup basin
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f85-147; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f85-147

Surveys of hauled-out ringed seals (Phoca hispida) and bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) were flown in 1980 and 1981 over Jones Sound, the Sverdrup Basin, the channels between the Parry Islands, the Parry Channel, Prince of Wales Strait, and northern Amundsen Gulf. Part of the survey was flown again in 1982. Ringed seals were most numerous in Barrow Strait and Wellington Channel, their density decreasing westward and northward. Their preferred habitat was annual ice, fast or cracking, of high cover; they avoided deep water. Bearded seals were seen in low numbers in early-opening areas, preferring floe or rotten ice of moderate or low cover over shallow water.