Protecting Alaska's Glacial Harbor Seals

Protecting Alaska's Glacial Harbor Seals. Approach Guidelines For Tidewater Glacial Fjords. , [Approach Guidelines are informational and not transcribed], Unique and Valuable , Tidewater glacier areas are essential habitats for harbor seals in Alaska. Such habitats are only available to seals in southcentral and southeast Alaska, where fewer than two dozen ice-filled inlets provide this unique form of seal habitat. Floating ice calved from glaciers forms nursery areas where female seals give birth and nurse their young for about three weeks before they wean. The ice also provides a place for seals to rest at all tidal stages year-round while offering protection from predators. These sites host a significant portion of Alaska's harbor seal population and may serve as source populations for surrounding areas. In some glacial areas, such as Icy Bay near Yakutat, counts of seals on the ice have been as high as 5,000 animals with over 1,000 pups born each year. This might be the largest aggregation of harbor seals in the world., Rising Concerns , Human presence can diminish the value of this habitat for harbor seals. Vessel-based tourism in Alaska began in the early 1900's with relatively few passengers but numbers have increased rapidly in recent decades to now over a million annually. Some tidewater glaciers are visited daily by cruise ships and smaller tour boats, which can result in multiple vessels at certain sites on a given day and a significant number of seals being disturbed. Chronic disturbance from vessels has the potential to impact seal populations by influencing successful weaning of pups and their subsequent survival. Noted harbor seal population declines have occurred at some glacial sites. Glaciers in Alaska are experiencing unprecedented rates of ice loss, and at some tidewater glaciers harbor seals are already coping with reduced ice cover which may make them more sensitive to other impacts., The Science To Understand Disturbance , Studies across a range of habitats show that human disturbance can cause seals to abandon haul-out areas temporarily or permanently, or shift their haul-out timing. Studies in glacial fjords on vessel disturbance of seals have been underway for three decades, revealing consistent impacts. Research questions have focused on 1) seal behavior during close approaches, 2) disruption of mother pup nursing and bonding, 3) thermal stress, and 4) disruption of haul-out patterns. Findings summarized below show that cumulative vessel disturbance may threaten reproduction and survival of harbor seals., [Findings summary not transcribed]