Creature Tales: Harbor Seal

Harbor Seals are very curious animals. With eyes just above water, they watch drifting boats and kayaks, giving boaters an unsettled feeling they are not alone. 

Just when you notice a seal’s presence, it sinks with hardly a ripple, leaving you wondering. On land, seals are cautious and dive into the water if approached. 

This well-known resident of the Pacific Northwest is the marine mammal you’re most likely to see every season and in many places.

As a true seal, the Harbor Seal has ears but lacks the external ear flaps of sea lions. Streamlined bodies make them fast, efficient swimmers. 

On land, seals grip with claws on their front flippers and move like big caterpillars. Look for Harbor Seals “hauled out” at low tide on rocks, sand bars, and tide flats. Harbor Seal pups are born in summer and an hour after birth can already swim. 

In the first few weeks of life, mom often leaves her pup high and dry while she searches for food, sometimes for more than a day. Harbor Seals eat fish, squid, crabs, and small octopi. 

At times well-meaning people remove pups, thinking they’re abandoned. Leave seal pups alone and let mom retrieve them. There are lots of Harbor Seals, but they do have their challenges. 

Each year many are tangled in fishing nets and drown. Though they are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, people sometimes kill seals thinking they compete with people for fish. The most important thing for Harbor Seals and all marine creatures is a clean marine environment. We can help them by keeping our own impacts to a minimum.