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Youth Area Watch - Harbor Seal
Biosampling
We the Tatitlek Youth Area Watch (YAW) group,
are writing this web page to inform you about the
Harbor Seal Biosampling that is taking place in
1997-98. Students from the communities of Chenega
Bay, Seward, Cordova, Valdez, and Tatitlek have
been working on this project since 1995.
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Some places in Alaska, like Southeast
and Bristol Bay have average, healthy
seals. The number of seals in these areas
is stable or growing. In other places in
Alaska, mostly the Chugach and Kodiak
regions,the number of harbor seals has
decreased a great amount over the past 20
years. By studying seals in Prince William
Sound, we learn more about why their
population is declining. Nobody knows the
cause of the decline or what will help
them recover. We do hope these studies
will help in the future. Therefore, the
Harbor Seal Biosampling project was
started to understand why there has been a
decline.
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In Tatitlek we don't have grocery stores
like in town, although we do go to town for
groceries occasionally. We hunt seal and other
marine mammals for food. Some people in our
community prefer the subsistence lifestyle instead
of going to the market.
When a hunter shoots a seal for food
(subsistence) we go down to the beach and sample
it. After that we put the samples in a freezer.
Then we send the samples to scientists. There they
sample it more in depth.
When we send the samples to the scientists, they
check to see if the seal was eating right and to
see if it was healthy when it was shot. Also, if
the seal was a female they check to see if it was
breeding and how much.
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Last year in October we traveled to
Valdez. There we received our training
from Vicki Vanek on how to sample a seal
properly. Everyone else from the other
sites received their training from her
also. Since 1995, 71 seals have been fully
sampled in Prince William Sound. We
recently talked to Vicki Vanek. She said
that results on sampling are just getting
back to her. She also said things are
still happening like they're just figuring
out how to get the seal's exact age. In
the future she hopes to find out why the
seal population is declining.
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Samples taken from the seal include:
• Skin is collected for genetic studies to
study stock identity - to understand how closely
related harbor seals are in different parts of the
state.
• Blubber is collected for fat analysis.
This helps the scientists learn about the seal's
diet and how good their energy stores are. This is
also used for contaminant testing, such as
dioxin.
• Teeth are sectioned and the rings inside
can tell the exact age of the seal.
• Whiskers are tested for stable isotopes.
This helps the scientists learn about changes in
the seal's diet.
• The Stomach is taken to learn about what
the seal has been eating.
• The Skull helps to determine the type of
seal, size, etc.
• The Liver, Heart and Kidney determines
the health of the seal and tells about certain
contaminants.
• The Length and Weight Measurements are
used to study the growth and body condition of the
seals.
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