As August continues on, we have finally reached the end of our field season. Sadly, we had our last survey today! We were sad to wave goodbye to our beloved seals, but we’re not quite done on Appledore- and we aren’t saying good bye for good just yet!
We are still just as busy here wrapping up our survey data and independent projects in time for the symposium at Shoals this Saturday.
Although-we still had more interesting finds from our last surveys!
One is that there is definitely a shark in the area-we found shark wounds on a few of our seals!
Permit #: LOC-20412, 8/5/18, J.Berube
Permit #: LOC-20412, 8/4/18, J.Veo
This is a really interesting find for us-and shows that when there are healthy populations the natural predator/prey cycle continues.
We only saw four cases this year of bulging eye which remains a mystery.
Another thing we often notice are seals being flushed by recreational people and boats going too close to seal haulouts. It is important to know that the public is required under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to stay 150 ft away from any marine mammal at all times. Going too close, and in the cases we’ve seen flushing the seals, is very stressful for the animal, and also detrimental for public safety. We work under permit to get our data, and we are very careful about respecting the boundaries of these animals and our permits.
Before we go, here is a lovely photo a seal in the water.
Permit #: LOC-20412, 8/6/18, J.Veo
Stay tuned for a few more words from Seal Team Shoals!
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