ARCTIC A Distinctive Large Breeding Population of Ringed Seals (Phoca hispida)

• Main Authors: Inhabiting Baffin, Bay Pack Ice
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Baffin Bay; Greenland; Baffin; inuit; Phoca hispida
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.576.1713; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic36-2-162.pdf

with pups, inhabiting the pack ice of Baffin Bay. Pack-ice seals re smaller than their fast-ice counterparts and have a different diet and gut parasite load. Age and reproductive data, although limited, indicate that the offshore seals are a normal breeding population, Pack-ice seals probably mix with fast-ice seals in coastal areas during the brief open-water season but morphological and ecological differences suggest that the populations are reproductively isolated. This study prompts reconsideration of the importance of offshore pack ice to ringed seals and, therefore, to the coastal hunt-ing economy of Inuit in Greenland and Baffn Island. Key words: ringed seals, Baffin Bay, pack ice, distribution, population discreteness, management