Community Corner

Harbor Seal is Shore's First Visitor of 2011

Marine mammal was seen hunting in the Manasquan Inlet Jan. 1

He was a New Years Day guest few people would have turned away, though the food bill probably would have been prohibitively high.

As his head popped up out of the chilly waters of the Manasquan Inlet around 3 p.m., all the folks who figured out how to park their cars in the plowed-in parking lot at Inlet Drive in Pt. Pleasant Beach jumped out of their vehicles and gathered around to see the small harbor seal make an appearance. An amateur photographer grabbed his camera with an ultra-zoom lens, an older man directed youngsters to where his head might pop up next and anglers hoped not to hook him.

So goes a Jersey Shore seal sighting.

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"There are a couple hundred in New Jersey," said Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, which handles seal rescues up and down the New Jersey coast. "They spend their time fishing in the area, and then spend their time resting and relaxing on land."

While not an every-day occurrence, seal sightings during the winter in New Jersey are not particularly rare, Schoelkopf said, just fewer people are outside and around to see them.

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New Jersey's seal population is primarily made up of harbor seals, with a few gray seals thrown in. Then there are river otters, known for stealing fishing bait held in traps by residents of lagoon communities.

Seals make their way to the back bays as well, said Schoelkopf. The animals can often be spotted sunning themselves on floating docks or resting on islands. Locally, they can be found as far back as the narrows of the Manasquan River near Ridge Road in Brick and the western marshes of the bay.

"Seals will go wherever there's food," said Schoelkopf. "They don't say, 'this water's getting a bit brackish, let's leave.' We've had seals up in the creeks near Trenton. They can spend months out of salt water without any ill effect."

The MMSC maintains a list of volunteer spotters up and down the New Jersey coast who are called whenever a seal is thought to be in trouble. The volunteers, who stay with the seal until scientists from the center arrive, are trained in classes the MMSC holds across the coastal regions of the state.

Though Schoelkopf says people should stay 50 yards away from a seal, there are some obvious signs that indicate when one might be in trouble. A seal lying flat on its face is not a good sign, nor is mucus running from its nose.

A seal favoring one side is a good sign, however.

"Seals are like people, they're either left-handed or right-handed," said Schoelkopf. Seals in good spirits are often yawning and raising up one flipper while on land.

The number of seals in New Jersey seem to be increasing, experts say. The Press of Atlantic City reported Monday that the MMSC handled a record number of seal rescues last year.


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