Joint ICES/NAFO/NAMMCO Working Group on Harp and Hooded Seals (WGHARP) ...

• Main Author: ICES
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: ICES Scientific Reports 2024
• Subjects: Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Pressures, impacts, conservation, and management; Barents Sea; Greenland; White Sea; Greenland Sea; Harp Seal; hooded seal
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.24306100; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/report/Joint_ICES_NAFO_NAMMCO_Working_Group_on_Harp_and_Hooded_Seals_WGHARP_/24306100

The main objective of the working group was to review recent surveys of Greenland Sea harp and hooded seal pup production and examine harvest scenarios for these populations as well as harp seals in the White Sea. No new survey to estimate pup production of Barents Sea/White Sea harp seals was completed. No new survey information was available for the Northwest Atlantic.The 2022 Greenland Sea aerial survey images were analyzed manually and with the aid of automatic detection methodology (deep learning). For assessment purposes, this report only refers to the manual counts. Correction factors based on staging surveys were applied according to established methodology. The 2022 Greenland Sea harp seal pup production estimate for harp seals was 92,769 (CV = 20.2%), which is significantly higher than the 2018 estimate but similar to that based on the 2012 survey. The hooded seal pup production estimate for 2022 was 13,509 (CV=12.9%), slightly but not significantly higher than the 2018 estimate.Subsequent to the ...