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Studying Harbor Seals in Churchill, MB

Studying Harbor Seals in Churchill, MB

After the disappointment of last summer’s field season (failing to capture any ringed seals), I have spent a lot of time working out how to improve our chances for this coming summer. In that spirit, I jumped at the opportunity to join the field crew of a harbor seal research project and gain more experience capturing seals.

Based out of the Churchill Northern Studies Center (CNSC), the project is a collaboration between the Assiniboine Park Zoo, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Manitoba Hydro and involves tagging harbor seals upriver better understand how they utilize rivers in the Churchill region.

The Churchill Northern Studies Center

During May, harbor seals gather at the mouth of the Churchill River, waiting for enough river ice melt to allow passage upstream. The capture strategy, therefore, was to set nets right off the floe edge –  where seals were congregating and occasionally hauling out. There was only a short window of time  to accomplish the task: after the seals started arriving, but before the river sufficiently melted (and the ice edge became too unstable to work off of).

As luck would have it, 2023 was a success – we captured and tagged 4 harbor seals during our 14-dy field season (check out this video). The capture team included our amazingly knowledgeable guide, Jack, researchers and a veterinarian from the Assiniboine Zoo, a PhD candidate from the University of British Columbia, myself, and our fearless bear guard, Sheldon.

 

Altogether, it was a wonderful experience –  Churchill is beautiful, the people were lovely, the CNSC was comfortable and well equipped for our needs, and I walked away with a plethora of tips and tricks that I’m hoping will make this summer’s field work in Ulukhaktok wildly successful – or at least more so than last year!