Northern fur seal pup estimates decline - AP

[Eugene]

Friday, February 2, 2007 · Last updated 8:01 p.m. PT

Northern fur seal pup estimates decline

By DAN JOLING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- America's northern fur seal pup population continues a marked
decline this decade, federal biologists reported Friday. The number of pups born
between 2004 and 2006 in Alaska's Pribilof Islands, home of the world's largest
rookeries, fell by 9 percent from the previous two year estimate, according to
researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"We have seen a significant decline in the abundance of fur seals on the Pribilof Islands
starting about 1998, and we have not been able to identify the factors responsible," said
Doug DeMaster, director of NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

Less pollock, herring, squid and other seal food because of global warming or commercial
fishing are possibilities, as is increased predation by killer whales. Entanglement in marine
debris, parasites, disease and pollutants may have contributed to past or present declines,
according to federal researchers.

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The remote points of land in the Bering Sea are the breeding grounds for more than half
of the world's northern fur seals. Just 15 years ago, they accounted for 74 percent of the
population.

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Full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Fur_Seal_Decline.html