2021 Aerial Surveys Monitoring Gray Seal Populations
Counting gray seal pups in their nurseries is one way researchers are keeping tabs on this population as it reoccupies historic habitats off New England.
A collection of photos from the 2021 Northeast Fisheries Science Center's aerial surveys to monitor the gray seal population off the Northeastern United States.
Learn more about seal research in the northeast.
The two NOAA Corps pilots and two seal researchers ready for the aerial seal survey along the New England coast.
Circling flight paths around pupping colonies, this one is Seal Island, Maine, can be dizzying! Photo: Peter Duley, NOA...
Muskeget Island, Massachusetts, seen under the propeller of the Twin Otter. Photo: Elizabeth Josephson, NOAA Fisheries
A sample image taken from the plane at 750 feet altitude over Green Island, Maine. Photo: Peter Duley, NOAA Fisheries
A section of the same image, zoomed in enough to see mother and pup gray seals. Even though shot from 750 feet in the a...
Gray seal moms and pups hauled out on the beach at Great Point, Nantucket, Massachusetts during pupping season in Janua...
Moms and pups on Maine's Seal Island during gray seal pupping season in January 2021. The island is closed to the publi...
The white coats of young gray seal pups stand out from their moms in this closeup of gray seals on the beach at Monomoy ...
Young gray seal pups with white coats, older pups who have already shed their white coats. and their moms on Muskeget Is...
An aerial view shows seal moms and a few pups spread along the beach on Muskeget Island. Photo: Peter Duley, NOAA Fisher...
Lots of young seal pups with white coats and a few adult seals rest on the beach at Monomoy. Photo: Peter Duley, NOAA Fi...
A small shed on Seal Island is anchored with rope and rocks after tipping over. Several seal pups and adults are nearby....
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