Field Report From Prof. Jay Rotella:

For 2024, Weddell seals in Erebus Bay are now almost 2 weeks past the peak of pup births that occurs at the end of October. We are now only seeing a few newborns per day. Based on the numbers so far, it appears that 2024 will be another above-average year for pup production with similar numbers of births to what’s been typical over the past 15 years. The main focus of the field work now is on surveying all the seals that are hauled out in the study area to document which individuals are present in the study area.

2023 Weddell seal population survey video by returning field team leader PhD student Parker Levinson.

Multiple surveys are done from early November through early December. The surveys are systematic sweeps of the entire study area, and during each survey, the tag numbers and sex of each animal that is detected is recorded as are the coordinates of the location.

Previous Field Team member Marian Smith records data on individual seals during a population survey in 2022.

The survey data provide valuable information on which seals are alive and present in the study area and help the project learn about (1) the population’s size and composition and (2) the survival and reproduction patterns of individuals and how those vary across ages, sexes, and years. The first survey of 2024 was successfully completed on November 10th. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to conduct surveys and to replace missing or broken tags on previously tagged animals.