2004 Marine Mammal Stranding Responses

This year was very busy for The Whale Center of New England's stranding program and it was marked by two distinctive peaks: one in the winter, January through March, and one in the summer, July through September.

Winter 'Ice Seal' Season

During the winter, harp and hooded seals travel to New England from the coast of Canada. These seals are called 'ice seals' because they give birth to their pups on ice and generally are the most comfortable on ice and snow. When harp and hooded seals come into the area, they are often tired from their long journey and will haul out on beaches, floating docks, or rocks. Once they haul out of the water, they look for areas of ice and snow to rest. If there are no suitable areas near the water, they can travel for distances of up to a mile or more to find a good resting spot. It is at these times that we see harp and hooded seals in unusual places, such as miles up tidal creeks or even in peoples' backyards! We had a very busy ice seal season this year, with a total of 28 seals reported. Most often these reports are juvenile harp seals, called 'beaters' because they 'beat' their hind flippers from side to side to move on land. Beaters are typically between three and four feet long and are light tan with black splotches. We occasionally see adult harp seals, as well, which grow to five or six feet in length. They are tan overall, with a black face and a black 'harp' mark on their back. Hooded seals are less common, but juveniles are sighted several times each year and even adults are seen occasionally. Juvenile hooded seals are called 'blue-backs' because they are silver on their underside and bluish/gray on their back. Adult hooded seals are silver overall with dark splotches and they can get up to eight feet long!

Interesting Cases from 2004

Juvenile harp seal in Goose Cove, Gloucester

This harp seal was first reported to The Whale Center on January 9th. Mason Weinrich, Whale Center Executive Director and Chief Scientist, went out to make a health assessment of the seal. He found that it did have several spots of missing fur, which can sometimes be caused by stress, but otherwise, it looked alert and relatively healthy. In a case like this one, we usually monitor the seal for the next day or two to see if its health deteriorates or if it goes back into the water on its own. This seal remained in the same area for eight days, during which time it repeatedly went into the water, presumably to forage for fish, and hauled out again. We started to worry that it didn't know how to return to open water on its own. Goose Cove is separated from the Annisquam River, which leads out to Ipswich Bay, by a causeway with an active road. In order to return to open water, the seal would have to find its way through the opening in the narrow causeway and past all the traffic noise. After eight days of the seal being in Goose Cove, we finally captured it and released it on a beach in Rockport. It immediately returned to the water.

Three juvenile harp seals in Farm Creek Marsh, Gloucester

On January 28th, we received a report of three harp seals in a marshy area in Gloucester. Kate Sardi, Whale Center Assistant Director and Stranding Coordinator, responded to the report and found all three animals lying on ice in the marsh within a few hundred yards of each other. It must have been an ideal haul out site to attract three harp seals, which are usually solitary. Two of the seals looked very healthy, but one was obviously in distress. It was lying on its stomach on the ice and had blood around its mouth. Kate and the resident who made the report captured the seal, which put up no fight at all, and transported it to the New England Aquarium. Unfortunately, the seal was very ill and it died during transport.

Entangled juvenile harp seal in Beverly

This harp seal was reported by the Beverly Animal Control Officer (ACO) on February 1st. Cara Pekarcik, Whale Center Database Manager and Intern Coordinator, and Kate Sardi responded and found that the seal looked healthy, but its neck was wrapped in monofilament gill net. They had to remove the netting before the seal's health began to deteriorate. If the netting remained on the seal, it would start to cut into its skin as it grew or the net could become caught on debris in the water and the seal could drown. With the help of the ACO, Cara and Kate captured the seal with a blanket and cut the netting off. The seal remained on the beach for the rest of the day and finally returned to the water on its own.

Juvenile harp seal from Seabrook, NH

On February 3rd, The Whale Center received a report of a harp seal that had been captured by the Seabrook, NH, Animal Control Officer (ACO). The ACO had thought the seal was in need of assistance, so he captured it and held it in his truck until Stacey Fisher, Whale Center Operations Coordinator, arrived. She discovered that the seal was loose in the back of the ACO's truck, which can be a dangerous situation for both the seal and for the people involved. The seal could have injured itself on the equipment in the back of the truck and people could have been bitten by the animal. Seals are carnivores and they have teeth similar to dogs or bears; if they are cornered or frightened, they can bite. Fortunately, Stacey was able to safely transfer the seal into a kennel and transport it to a beach, where she released it to return to the water.

Adult harp seal in Dolliver's Neck, Gloucester

On February 9th, we received a report of an adult harp seal lying on snow in a marshy area. Kate Sardi responded and found that the seal was alert and had no signs of injury, but it was a little underweight. We monitored it throughout the day and the next day it returned to the water on its own.

Juvenile hooded seal on Front Beach, Rockport

This hooded seal was reported on February 11th and Kate Sardi immediately went out to conduct a health assessment. Hooded seals are more unusual in our area than harp seals, so it was interesting to see this individual hauled out on Cape Ann. The seal looked fairly healthy, but a little underweight. A juvenile ice seal is often thin and tired after making the long journey down from Canada, so Kate left the seal to rest. It returned to the water on its own that day.

Summer Harbor Seal Season

Live Harbor Seal Pups

Unusual Sightings of Dead Harbor Seal Pups

Cetaceans (Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises) in 2004

In 2004, we received reports of 11 dead cetaceans, including seven harbor porpoise, three Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and one unknown baleen whale. These cetaceans are residents of our area, so it is not unusual for them to occasionally wash up on shore. We did have one report of a live stranded Atlantic white-sided dolphin on Grave's Beach in Manchester on March 25th. This dolphin was sighted by area residents in the early morning, but it wasn't reported to The Whale Center until early afternoon. By that time, the dolphin had been on land for over six hours and was lying on its side, half buried in the sand. We righted the dolphin, dug trenches for its front flippers to make it more comfortable, and tried to regulate its body temperature. Veterinarians from the New England Aquarium traveled up from Boston and euthanized the dolphin because it was in very poor health, most likely due to the stress of the stranding and also potentially due to disease. If we had received the report earlier, it is possible that more could have been done to save the animal. That is why we emphasize the importance of quick reporting of any marine mammals on shore.