Seal Sitters would like to wish all moms a very special day today (and all days). Thanks for all your love and nurturing. Seal moms are especially affectionate with their pups in those formative 4-6 weeks of nursing and teaching a pup the skills to survive. This newborn pup and mom bond through the senses of touch and smell. A pup’s unique call (which sounds like “maaaaaaaaaa”) will enable the mom to find her pup if they are separated in a crowded rookery or due to a disturbance by humans, dogs or other animals. Harbor seal moms are extremely protective of their pups during the short time they are together - after pups are weaned, however, they are on their own to survive. Thankfully, human moms nurture us throughout our lifetime!

Seal pupping season has begun on the outer coasts of Washington and Oregon. Please give harbor seals space and don’t worry if you see a pup alone on the beach. Most likely, the pup is already on his own, but sometimes a still-nursing pup will be left alone on shore. Always stay back and keep dogs leashed. If you have any concerns at all about a pup (or other marine mammal), please call the stranding network for your area.

Tags: stranding network

The May issue of Seattle Magazine has a mention of Seal Sitters in the tongue-in-cheek column Seatlleopia, comparing Seattle to Portland. As far as the frostbitten fingers go, it will indeed be nice to do some seal-sitting duty in warmer weather for a change. Of course, warmer weather means bigger crowds and increases the challenges of pups finding a quiet place to rest. Seal Sitters is gearing up for the impending seal pupping season - there is still space open for our May 19th training if you’d like to help out.

Thanks to Kate and Seattle Magazine!

Tags: training, volunteer training

Seal Sitters will hold our final training of the year on Saturday, May 19th at the Alki Bathhouse (2701 Alki Avenue SW, next to Statue of Liberty on the beach). From 10am-12:00pm, there will be a talk and A/V presentation. After a 30 minute break, there will be a followup on-the-beach training session lasting approximately an hour. Due to the demands of volunteer time protecting animals during pupping season, there will be no further trainings this year.

Pupping season in South Puget Sound begins in mid-June in area rookeries, where pups are born and nursed for 4-6 weeks. We don’t usually begin seeing pups on West Seattle beaches until early July with the peak of our season in September and October. All of the pups we have been seeing the past few months are weaned pups from last season. Please mark your calendar for the training event and RSVP if you would like to attend.

Pupping season has begun on the outer coast of Oregon and Washington. If you visit coastal areas, you may encounter a pup alone on the beach. Please observe from a distance and keep people and dogs away. This is a very dangerous time of year for newborn pups - if people or dogs cause disruption in a rookery or around a pup alone on the beach, a mother may abandon her young. If you have concerns about the health or safety of a pup, please call the stranding network for that area. Never remove a pup from the beach - it is against Federal Law (the Marine Mammal Protection Act). If you don’t have access to the internet from your phone, you can always call the Seal Sitters hotline at 206-905-SEAL (7325) for the appropriate contact information of the proper stranding response team.

We look forward to seeing you on the 19th- please RSVP here. We encourage children (such as Noemi and Etienne above) to join Seal Sitters - it is a very empowering experience for a child to be able to protect marine mammals and learn about our fragile marine ecosystem.

Tags: training, volunteer training

For brand new volunteers Jodi and her 5-year-old daughter Louisa, yesterday could not have been better. Recent transplants from the Washington, DC, area, the afternoon’s plans included a trip to the Pacific Science Center. In the morning, Jody received the APB “seal on the beach now” email message from our first responder. She immediately contacted Seal Sitters’ volunteer scheduler Connie to say they would love to spend some time protecting a pup.

The hotline had received a call about 7am that a pup was at a popular scuba diving cove near the Water Taxi. Our first responder taped off the cove, leaving a corridor on the small beach so that divers could access the water. Since this was Louisa’s first seal pup, she got the naming honors. After pondering possibilities for a only a minute or so, she proudly announced the pup was “Princess Drosanna”. Louisa (at left, on duty) spent the next few hours admiring the Princess stretching in the sun.The very alert, dark-coated pup managed to rest on shore for almost 12 hours - until being startled and scared back into Elliott Bay by an unsuspecting diver who had approached the beach from the water to the south, unaware that a pup was there. Thanks to all the volunteers who pitched in to keep the Princess safe on a beautiful, but windy and cold day. And kudos as always to our volunteer schedulers and hotline operators!

Tags: Princess Drosanna

Seal Sitters will hold our last training of the year on Saturday, May 19th from 10am-12:30ish. The location of the event will be announced at a later date. Pupping season in South Puget Sound begins in mid-June in area rookeries, where pups are born and nursed for 4-6 weeks. We don’t usually begin seeing pups on West Seattle beaches until early July with the peak of our season in September and October. All of the pups we have been seeing the past few months are weaned pups from last season. Please mark your calendar and check back for updates. RSVP if you would like to attend the training.

Pupping season has begun on the outer coast of Washington. If you visit coastal areas, you may encounter a pup alone on the beach. Please observe from a distance and keep people and dogs away. If you have concerns about the health or safety of the pup, please call the stranding network for that area. If you don’t have access to the internet from your phone, you can always call the Seal Sitters hotline at 206-905-SEAL (7325) for the appropriate number.

Tags: training, volunteer training

We received a report Easter Sunday morning of a pup at Duwamish Head; however, none was found when our responder arrived within minutes. Shortly after, a call came in about a pup at the north end of sandy Alki Beach. A pup was on the beach along with a family who was way too close. Thankfully, the pup was not scared back into the water. Our volunteers established a tape perimeter on the sand allowing a comfort zone for the pup and tape along the seawall above him. He was alert with decent body weight. He/she was quickly nicknamed “Bunny.” About an hour later, with an impending extreme low tide, the pup went into the water, crossed the shallows between the beach and sandbar, and vanished into the Sound. Bunny, living up to his name, however, flop-hopped from beach to beach throughout the afternoon - across from Cactus for a short nap and then at Constellation Beach til late afternoon. Thanks to the volunteers who gave up their holiday plans to watch over Bunny.

Tags: Bunny

Late yesterday, divers from the Highline Community College Marine Science and Technology (MaST) stranding team recovered seal pup Sandy’s body from the bottom of Puget Sound, beneath Edmond’s public fishing pier. Rus Higley (photo left), Kaddee Lawrence and Arthur Bureacov donned scuba gear and dove from the pier in search of the pup admidst kelp, abandoned fishing lines and lures. There was interest in recovery to see how well the pup had been foraging and her overall body condition; she had not been sighted since her release on January 21. The body was delivered to WDFW Marine Mammal Investigations Unit for necropsy which will be performed this week.

On Sunday, an Edmonds dive team was doing routine marine debris recovery. They were removing a huge ball of monofilament from a kelp bed. A diver noticed Sandy, entangled in line, removed the flipper tag and satellite tag for id purposes and reported her location to NOAA. Many thanks to that dedicated dive team for reporting their discovery and for their on-going work to clean up the marine environment.

Yesterday, while the MaST team searched the cold waters below (photo right), Seal Sitters’ lead investigator was stationed up on the pier to keep them safe from fishermen’s casts. She had an enlightening conversation with lone fisherman Nick about derelict lines and lures. According to Nick, there are a number of large tires that have been sunk off the pier in order to create habitat for fish. While fish have indeed become abundant in this habitat, the problem is that lures are constantly getting caught on the rubber tires and fishermen can’t reel them back in. Much to the frustration of the fishermen, the lines then have to be cut, leaving a maze of ebbing monofilament, hooks and lures which put marine mammals and sea birds at great risk. Nick said that Des Moines had sunk tires as well years ago, but finally removed them all. It was his and other fishermen’s opinion that Edmonds should follow suit. When the MaST team completed the dive, Sandy in tow, the divers mentioned the amazing amount and variety of large game fish in the habitat - and where there are big fish, there are usually the small bait fish that seal pups prefer.

While the Edmonds pier situation appears irreparable without removal of the tire habitat, Seal Sitters has noticed that the fishing piers in West Seattle (Water Taxi and Duwamish Head piers) are often strewn with cut line and hooks. There are a number of sea gulls seen by the piers with only one leg - the direct result of having line sever a leg. Volunteers David and Eilene recently removed line from the leg of a gull. Lincoln Park’s favorite fishing hole by Colman Pool is littered with line and hooks everywhere when the fish are running. We respectfully ask that fishermen please be more careful and not leave derelict gear. Not only are seal pups and gulls endangered - so are people and other animals.

Huge thanks to MaST’s stranding team Rus, Kaddee and Arthur for recovering “satellite” Sandy, whose movements were followed by almost 600 residents of Puget Sound via her SeaDoc Society dedicated web page. The satellite revealed that Sandy travelled 990 kilometers (615 miles) in the 66 days she swam free in the wild. The death of Sandy has truly put a face on the dangers of marine debris and derelict fishing gear. Seal Sitters intends to dedicate our annual beach cleanups in her memory. We hope you will join us.

Tags: Sandy, marine debris, derelict fishing gear, satellite tag