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Grey seals and harbor seals

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bob_G

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Just some of my winter observations.

 

I'm on the canal almost every day, drinking coffee and solving world politics.   All last summer and fall, grey seals were a daily occurrence.  Saw a bunch of guys get spooled last summer when ol Salty the Seal was hungry.

 

The greys hung around until well into the fall. I was convinced they'd take up residence somewhere in the west end area, and become part of the landscape. 

But that didn't happen. The greys are gone.  Just seeing an occasional harbor seal every other day.  It appears the greys follow the bass, and once the bass are gone, they move on to greener pastures.

Edited by bob_G

The Sultan of Sluggo

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Salty, and presumably all the other pioneer/rogue males that parked their annoying fat asses along the coast this summer, left in late Fall to go get laid. Wintertime is gray seal pupping season, Dec-Feb. Gestation is ~11 months, which means these hook-nosed sea pigs are banging away roughly Jan-Mar. Females become fertile again right after the pups are weaned at 3-4wks of age. 

 

There's also the issue of wintertime forage: the smorgasbord of inshore summer eats thins dramatically in winter. Historically there were inshore winter cod and hake nearby in many coastal areas. No longer. So to keep their fat ugly maws filled, I'm guessing they also moved off to get closer to the more productive winter feeding grounds.

 

Apparently the biggest winter breeding colony is Muskeget Island.

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Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.

Hemingway, Old Man and the Sea

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9 hours ago, 27conch said:

I hate seals...:hooked:

I hate seals that ruin bass fishing. And those are the Grays. Never had much of an issue with Harbor seals..even in the proximity of schoolies early in the season, before most Harbors seem to move off to different pastures during summer.

 

Last season Gray seals were incredibly disruptive to my fishing on so many nights. IIRC, one night a seal stole 7 bass from a friend and me. One seal snapped a brand new rod on the 1st night I used it. 

 

And don't think for a second Grays can only "catch" a hooked bass that's slowed up for the taking. Time and time again I watched seals *charge* into schools of resting bass, sending cows flying in terror. The seals spooked the hell out of them, and shut bites totally off.

 

On so many occasions my friend and I found a school, only to have to give up and move on–simply because a seal parked itself 25yds away just waiting for us to hook a fish. Anything we hooked would've been immediately killed by the seal.

 

I don't know how many I lost to seals last year but all were breeders in their spawning prime. Many/most were killed and just the tasty liver/etc was eaten– with the majority of the carcass quickly discarded so the seal could double back in a minute or two to wait for the next free liver. 

 

In Latin, Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig."

Accurate.

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Edited by rst3

Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.

Hemingway, Old Man and the Sea

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19 hours ago, rst3 said:

Salty, and presumably all the other pioneer/rogue males that parked their annoying fat asses along the coast this summer, left in late Fall to go get laid. Wintertime is gray seal pupping season, Dec-Feb. Gestation is ~11 months, which means these hook-nosed sea pigs are banging away roughly Jan-Mar. Females become fertile again right after the pups are weaned at 3-4wks of age. 

 

There's also the issue of wintertime forage: the smorgasbord of inshore summer eats thins dramatically in winter. Historically there were inshore winter cod and hake nearby in many coastal areas. No longer. So to keep their fat ugly maws filled, I'm guessing they also moved off to get closer to the more productive winter feeding grounds.

 

Apparently the biggest winter breeding colony is Muskeget Island.

Screenshot_20220301-172242_Chrome.jpg.e28205c98a062ddea5871ebde9b4f8a8.jpg

40 years ago I don't recall ever seeing a seal on Muskeget.

The Sultan of Sluggo

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2 hours ago, bob_G said:

40 years ago I don't recall ever seeing a seal on Muskeget.

Your memory serves you well.

Screenshot_20220302-164117_Chrome.jpg.2d69ba778c508603bc948bb51affd345.jpg

 

Five gray seal pups were 1st documented on Muskeget in 1988. By 2016? 3,800 pups were recorded that winter. 

 

The population growth rate of gray seals on Sable Island has been calculated at 12.8%/yr. This equates to a doubling time of 5yrs, 8 months.

 

So long as there is adequate food and breeding space to support such explosive, exponential growth.. I suspect today's 30-50 someodd thousand in Massachusetts will be over 100,000 animals in about 10 years. 

 

Forget Cape "Cod"

Might as well call it Cape of Hook-nosed Sea Pigs

Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.

Hemingway, Old Man and the Sea

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