Revised 12/15/2000 HARBOR SEAL (Phoca vitulina richardsi):

Harbor seals inhabit coastal and estuarine waters off Baja California, north along the western coasts of the continental U.S., British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska, west through the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands, and in the Bering Sea north to Cape Newenham and the Pribilof Islands. They hau...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Washington Inland, Waters Stock, Stock Definition, Geographic Range
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
seals in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (shaded area
Baja
Bering Sea
Gulf of Alaska
McAllister
Pacific
harbor seal
Phoca vitulina
Alaska
Aleutian Islands
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.294.6432
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/po2000sehr-wain.pdf
Description
Summary:Harbor seals inhabit coastal and estuarine waters off Baja California, north along the western coasts of the continental U.S., British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska, west through the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands, and in the Bering Sea north to Cape Newenham and the Pribilof Islands. They haul out on rocks, reefs, beaches, and drifting glacial ice, and feed in marine, estuarine, and occasionally fresh waters. Harbor seals generally are non-migratory, with local movements associated with such factors as tides, weather, season, food availability, and reproduction (Scheffer and Slipp 1944; Fisher 1952; Bigg 1969, 1981). Harbor seals do not make extensive pelagic migrations though some long distance movement of tagged animals in Alaska (174 km) and along the U.S. west coast (up to 550 km) have been recorded (Pitcher and McAllister 1981, Brown and Mate 1983, Herder 1986). Harbor seals have also displayed strong fidelity for haul out sites (Pitcher and Calkins 1979, Pitcher and McAllister

Similar Items