General information
Ice Seal Harvest Monitoring
Report for July – December 2010:
Ice Seal Harvest Monitoring was presented by Mark Nelson of the AK. Dept. of Fish & Game. An overview of the Seal Harvest Survey was given. For the household survey, a person was hired in each community; trained the local surveyor; collected finished surveys and analyzed data; corrected for households not surveyed by expanding the results to include all households; and finally, presented the results to the communities and the ISC. Information from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta & Bristol Bay was collected in 2008 and 2009. The communities that participated were Hooper Bay, Tununak, Quinhagak, Togiak and Twin Hills. Data showed the harvest of spotted, bearded, ringed and ribbon seals as well as the struck and lost take. Some data is still being analyzed. Graphs that showed the estimated seal harvests of each community were shown. In the future, plan to continue surveys in Hooper Bay, Quinhagak and Tununak and hope to expand to more communities. In Bristol Bay, will plan on analyzing TEK sheets from 2009 to present, continue surveys in Togiak and Twin Hills to monitor if people start catching ice seals, and are currently collecting jaws from Bristol Bay for a spotted seal/harbor seal genetic project.
Ice Seal Biological Monitoring in the Bering and Chukchi Seas
| Principal Investigators | Lori Quakenbush (ADF&G) |
| Partners | Peter Omiak of Diomede, Bessi Sinnok of Shishmaref, Thomas Antoghme of Gambell, Earl Kignik and Ronald Oviok of Point Hope, Albert Simon and Agatha Napoleon of Hooper Bay, and Charlie Johnson of Nome |
| Funding | NOAA-NMFS, NPRB, NSF |
Report for July – December 2010:
Some results from ice seal bio-monitoring in the Bering & Chukchi Seas was presented by ADFG Arctic Marine Mammal Program. The goal is to monitor the health and status of ice seals through samples collected from coastal communities. The samples and information collected include: stomachs for diet analysis; liver, kidney, blubber, and muscle (meat) for contaminants; heart, lung, liver, gall-bladder, and intestines for parasites; skin for genetics; female reproductive tracts for productivity; physical measurements for body condition; teeth for aging; and traditional knowledge. With contaminants, data will be shared with the State Dept. of Epidemiology for human health recommendations. ADF&G will continue to analyze tissues for contaminants to monitor levels. They expect some chemicals to decrease and others may increase. They can measure very small amounts but don’t know what they mean to seals or people. They do know that Alaska seals have lower levels of contaminants than seals in Canada. They are working with the Alaska Sea Life Center to identify parasites present and their prevalence and want to know if new parasites have appeared or if the prevalence of parasites has changed. For disease screening, they are collecting and analyzing blood for viruses such as phocine distemper and phocid herpes virus. They are collecting nasal swabs to see if they can detect viruses instead of blood, which would make field collection easier. They are testing blood for toxoplasma and brucella. With genetics, they are trying to identify how many seal populations are there. The preliminary analysis is using mitochondrial DNA. There is no evidence of stock structure within the harvest for bearded, ringed, spotted and ribbon seals. Stock structure preliminary analysis is done by using microsatellite DNA. Bearded seals sampled in the Bering Sea were compared with samples from the Beaufort Sea and significant genotypic and allelic differences were found using 19 loci. Although there was no evidence of stock structure within the harvest for bearded seals using mtDNA, there is evidence of structure using microsatellites when comparing between two distant locations. Other studies they are looking at are: seal blubber for fatty acid analysis of seal and polar bear diet; muscle and liver for isotopes for diet studies; intestinal contents for toxic algae monitoring; fetuses and mothers for contaminants; whiskers for sensitivity analysis; tongues for trichinella testing; identifying fish prey for forage fish studies; and archive samples for future studies.
Publications:
- Crawford, J.A., K.J. Frost, L.T. Quakenbush, and A. Whiting. 2011. Different habitat use strategies by subadult and adult ringed seals (Phoca hispida) in the Bering and Chukchi seas. Polar Biology 35:241–255.
- Quakenbush, L. 2013. Ice Seal Biomonitoring Program Report. Submitted to the Ice Seal Committee from the Arctic Marine Mammal Program, Alaska Department of Fish & Game.
Hooper Bay Seal Tagging Project
| Principal Investigators | Lori Quakenbush (ADF&G) |
| Partners | Albert Simon (hunter from Hooper Bay) |
| Funding | Alaska State Fish & Game |
Project Summary:
In the fall of 2010, nets were deployed to catch ringed seals near Hooper Bay, but none were captured. In the spring of 2011, a net deployed on June 3rd near Hooper Bay captured one ringed seal. This was the one decent weather day of the season. A SPLASH tag was attached to the back of the adult female ringed seal. Her movements were followed until June 22nd when the tag likely fell off during molt.
 Albert Simon tagging a ringed seal |
 Albert Simon and Mark Nelson tagging a ringed seal |
Future Plans:
We hope to try tagging with SPLASH tags (mounted on the head) again in the fall of 2011 at Hooper Bay. In the spring of 2012 we hope to try tagging with SPOT tags deployed on the flippers. We will also start tagging sooner and stay longer to maximize good weather days.
Banner photo credit: NSB-DWM
