

UMEs for ice seals in the Bering and Chukchi Seas of Alaska.
Since June 1, 2018, elevated ice seal strandings have occurred in the Bering and Chukchi seas in Alaska. This event has been declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME).
Learn more about the 2018–2020 ice seal UME
This UME occurred from May 1, 2011 to December 31, 2016, involving primarily ice seals including ringed seal (Pusa hispida), bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), ribbon seal (Histriophoca fasciata), and spotted seals (Phoca largha) in northern and western Alaska. The minimum estimate of the total number of impacted seals was 657 seals, which included 233 dead stranded seals, 179 subsistence hunted seals, and 245 live seals that stranded or were sampled during permitted health assessments studies. The investigation identified that clinical signs were likely due to an abnormality of the molt, but a definitive cause for the abnormal molt and the UME was not determined.