Family fun at the beach

A large Northern Fur Seal bull watches over his harem at a haulout on St George Island in the Pribilofs, west of mainland Alaska. Large breeding colonies of fur seals exist in the Pribilof Islands and at Bogoslof Island in the Aleutians. Smaller colonies remain in the Kuril Islands and on San Miguel Island near California. Northern Fur Seal populations have been in decline; estimated worldwide population is less than one million. They are listed as a depleted species under the Marine Mammal protection Act, making commercial hunting of them illegal. Reduced availablity of forage fish due to commercial fishing is thought to be a factor in the decline.

Image MMFS1220