Annual migrations can be more than 3, miles roundtrip. Harp seals can dive up to 1, feet below the surface and remain underwater for about 16 minutes. They eat many more than species different types of fish and invertebrates.
Some seals have been found with more than 65 species of fish and 70 species of invertebrates in their stomachs. Their most common type of prey is smaller fish such as capelin, Arctic cod, and polar cod. The maximum lifespan of a harp seal is approximately 30 years. Males are sexually mature at seven to eight years of age and females at four to seven years of age.
Females give birth from late February through mid-March. They will only give birth during the short period of time when pack ice is available, as the ice provides a place to nurse their pups. At birth, newborn harp seals weigh about 25 pounds and are about 3 feet long. They nurse on high-fat milk for about 12 days. During this time, they gain about 5 pounds per day and develop a thick blubber layer.
Harp seals wean when they reach around 80 pounds. After weaning, adult females leave their pups on the pack ice. The pups stay on the ice without eating for about six weeks.
They can lose up to half of their body weight before they enter the water and start feeding on their own. Commercial hunters have captured harp seals in Canada for meat and oil since the s. The Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans sets an annual total allowable catch for commercial, aboriginal, and personal use hunting.
Hunting also occurred in Greenland. Inadvertent vessel strikes can injure or kill harp seals. Harp seals are vulnerable to vessel collisions throughout their range, but the risk is much higher in some coastal areas with heavy ship traffic. Harp seals can become entangled in fishing gear and other types of marine debris, either swimming off with the gear attached or becoming anchored.
They can become entangled in many different gear types, including gillnets, trawls, purse seines, or weirs. Once entangled, seals may drown if they cannot reach the surface to breathe, or they may drag and swim with attached gear for long distances, ultimately resulting in fatigue, compromised feeding ability, or severe injury, which may lead to reduced reproductive success and death.
Contaminants enter ocean waters from many sources, including oil and gas development, wastewater discharges, urban runoff, and other industrial processes. Once in the environment, these substances move up the food chain and accumulate in predators near the top, such as harp seals. Because of their blubber stores, harp seals accumulate these contaminants in their bodies, threatening their immune and reproductive systems.
Offshore oil and gas exploration and development also have the potential to impact harp seals. The most significant risk posed by these activities is the accidental or illegal discharge of oil or other toxic substances due to their immediate and potentially long-term effects.
This makes it difficult for the seal to swim, float, and keep warm. Harp seals rely on the availability of suitable sea ice as a haul-out platform for giving birth, nursing pups, and molting.
As such, harp seals are sensitive to changes in the environment that affect the timing and extent of sea ice formation and breakup. NOAA Fisheries is committed to the protection of harp seals. Targeted management actions taken to secure protections for these seals include:. Our research projects have discovered new aspects of harbor seal biology, behavior, and ecology and have helped us better understand the challenges that all harp seals face.
Our work includes. Be responsible when viewing marine life in the wild. Observe all seals and sea lions from a safe distance of at least 50 yards and limit your time spent observing to 30 minutes or less. Learn more about our marine life viewing guidelines. Report a sick, injured, entangled, stranded, or dead animal to make sure professional responders and scientists know about it and can take appropriate action.
Numerous organizations around the country are trained and ready to respond. Never approach or try to save an injured or entangled animal yourself—it can be dangerous to both the animal and you. Learn who you should contact when you encounter a stranded or injured marine animal. Harp seals migrate south in the winter. While males court females on land, the actual mating occurs in the water. Male harp seals fight for mating rights by biting and beating each other with their flippers.
Dominant males will mate with several different females. The pregnancy lasts about 11 months, and pups are born around February. The pups are born with white fur, weigh about 11 kg 24 pounds , and are around 80 cm 31 inches long. The nursing period only lasts about 10 days, during which harp seal females do not feed themselves.
The pups grow quickly, fattening up to nearly 40 kg 88 pounds. Harp seal mothers then abruptly leave to commence mating, leaving the pups behind. Pups become sedentary to conserve their stores of fat, but they can lose up to half their body weight during this period.
After seven or eight weeks of this, they learn to swim and hunt for themselves. Sail the East Greenland ice edge north of Spitsbergen in search for whales, and other Arctic wildlife. HDSXa22 Search for whales, and other Arctic wildlife of the land, sea, and air on an adventurous voyage from our home port of Vlissingen to our favorite Arctic island group.
JNSXa22 Search for whales, and other Arctic wildlife of the land, sea, and air on an adventurous voyage from our home port of Vlissingen to our favorite Arctic island group. JNSXb22 Search for whales, and other Arctic wildlife of the land, sea, and air on an adventurous voyage from the Scottish port of Aberdeen to our favorite Arctic island group.
HDSXb22 Search for whales, and other Arctic wildlife of the land, sea, and air on an adventurous voyage from the Scottish port of Aberdeen to our favorite Arctic island group. JNS02a22 Search for whales, and other Arctic wildlife of the land, sea, and air on an adventurous voyage from our home port of Vlissingen to our favorite Arctic island group.
We have a total of 17 cruises. English German Dutch Spanish. My profile Travel Agent. Helena Visited places on St. During the past several decades these grounds have become the scene of a human conflict between sealers and outraged environmentalists and animal rights activists. Modern hunts are better regulated than in the past, but the harp seal remains perhaps the most commercially important seal, with hundreds of thousands killed each year.
All rights reserved. Common Name: Harp Seal. Scientific Name: Pagophilus groenlandicus. Type: Mammals. Diet: Carnivore. Group Name: Colony, rookery. Size: 5. Weight: pounds. Size relative to a 6-ft man:. Least concern. Least Concern Extinct. Current Population Trend: Increasing. This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our photo community on Instagram.
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