However, numerous fishermen say the assessment of a decline in the stock doesn't match what they're seeing on the water, where haddock appear to them to be plentiful.
The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.
The black substance was staining the feet of people at the beach, prompting one local resident to alert state officials.
Scientists have narrowed down the top likely causes of more than 1,400 seal deaths across New England.
The Division of Marine Fisheries is analyzing the clams and expects to have preliminary results in the coming days that might point to a cause.
Deaths of gray and harbor seals, in much greater numbers than usual, have been attributed to viruses related to distemper and the flu.
Many of the dead seals that washed ashore in northern New England in the past few weeks tested positive for either avian influenza or phocine distemper virus, but it is still too soon to say if those viruses are the primary causes of the unusual die-off.
Marine mammal experts are testing tissue samples for a potential common cause of the surge in carcasses found on the state's beaches this year.
The smelly carcass, identified as that of an adult male minke whale, is the second large marine animal to turn up on shore in southern Maine in the past week.
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