Adult male northern fur seals on St. Paul Island were counted over the period July 9 to 15, 2017. Adult male seals were not counted on St. George Island in 2017 due to an extended period of canceled flights preventing observer access. Counts of territorial males with females (class 3; "harem" males) on St. Paul Island decreased by 9.6% compared to 2016. Idle males (classes 2 and 5,) on St. Paul Island increased in comparison to 2016 by 21.3%. Overall, the total number of adult males counted on St. Paul Island in 2017 increased by approximately 4.0% from 6,029 in 2016 to 6,268.
Table 1. Number of adult male northern fur seals counted, by rookery, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, July 2017.
* Adult males are assumed to be equal to or greater than 7 years of age. Class 2 – territorial without females; Class 3 – territorial with females; Class 5 – hauling ground males.
** Haulouts adjacent to the rookery were counted on a different day than the rookery area.
Figure 1. Northern fur seal adult males (harem, class 3 – thick line; idle, classes 2 and 5 – thin) counted on the Pribilof Islands 1975-2017. No counts were made on St. George Island in 2017.
