Estimating Abundance of Seals in a Drifting Environment: 2005: Pup Production of Harp Seals, Pagophilus groenlandicus, in the Northwest Atlantic
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/102201Utgivelsesdato
2005Metadata
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This report is not to be quoted without prior consultation with the General Secretary.Sammendrag
Photographic and visual aerial surveys to determine current pup production of
northwest Atlantic harp seals were conducted off Newfoundland and Labrador (the
“Front”), and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during March 2004. Surveys of four whelping
concentrations were conducted between 5 and 18 March resulting in estimated pup
production of 640,800 (SE=46,900, CV=7.3%) at the Front, 89,600 (SE=22,500,
CV=25.4%) in the northern Gulf, and 261,000 (SE=25,700, CV=9.8%) in the southern
Gulf (Magdalen Island), for a total of 991,400 (SE=58,200, CV=5.9%). Surveys were
corrected for the temporal distribution of births and the mis-identification of pups by
readers. Comparison with previous estimates indicates that pup production has not
changed since 1999, likely due to the increased hunting of young animals which began in
the mid 1990s.