Low Seal Numbers

Observation: While beach combing, residents have noticed a decrease in the number of seals up and down the shoreline outside of Port Heiden. This year some residents have not seen one seal, and have noticed a large number of dead sea birds washing up along the shore. Residents are unsure if the lack of seals and the large amount of dead sea birds washing up are connected.

LEO Comments: Gabe Dunham, Marine Advisory Program agent with UAF Sea Grant in Dillingham, Alaska has been notified.

Media:

Alaska Dispatch News – Mysterious deaths of Gulf of Alaska whales trigger stepped-up investigation (2015-08-20), There are several agencies looking into the health and potential decline of some species of sea mammals in Alaskan waters. A recent die-off of whales has been designated as an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) by NOAA and is under investigation. ADN Author, Yereth Rosen, continues, "They come at a time when scientists and resource managers are coping with several abnormalities in the Pacific marine environment. Thousands of starving sea lion pups have been stranded along the California coast, a situation that sparked its own unusual mortality event declaration; a harmful algal bloom of unusual size and duration has emerged in waters from Alaska to California; and large numbers of seabirds have died in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska from yet-to-be-determined causes. They also come at a time when northeastern Pacific surface temperatures are much higher than normal, thanks to a persistent warm mass nicknamed “The Blob,” and warm conditions are expected to continue, thanks to a developing El Nino weather system. Those warm conditions, both in the water in and in the atmosphere, extend to the Gulf of Alaska, said Teri Rowles, lead marine mammal scientist for NOAA Fisheries.“That always concerns us because that means there’s probably a change in overall pathogen exposure, possibly harmful algal blooms and other factors,” Rowles said in Thursday’s teleconference. A leading suspect in the Alaska whale deaths is some type of toxin produced by an algal bloom, she said." ADN