Unraveling the History of Harbor Seals in North Carolina (2025-2026)

Background

Harbor seals were mostly eliminated from the east coast of the U.S. due to state-sponsored culls in the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. Legally protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act since 1972, harbor seals have successfully recovered, and there are now 61,000 harbor seals from eastern Canada to North Carolina. This is a prime example of a conservation success story, in which legislation and management have led to a significant population recovery.

The implications of this success have resulted in challenges and opportunities. In the northeast, where harbor seals are abundant, fishermen often come into conflict with harbor seals. The recovery has also led to the recolonization in the periphery of the population’s range, including a seasonal colony in the Outer Banks, North Carolina.

As populations recover after a prolonged absence, the animals may be perceived as “new” to people living in that area. This perception can create a narrative that the animals “don’t belong.” This storyline is often inconsistent with the history of the population, as baselines shift over generations.

Few people are aware of the presence of harbor seals in North Carolina, providing the opportunity to get ahead of this narrative and inform public perceptions of harbor seals in the Outer Banks. Understanding simple facts about the history of harbor seals in this area will help to establish a more informed public perception of harbor seal recolonization.

Project Description

This project team will trace the history of harbor seals at the southern periphery of their range to contextualize the modern recolonization of harbor seals in North Carolina. The team will also investigate how the perceptions of harbor seals in the area have changed over the course of history. By mapping the distribution and abundance of harbor seals in the southeast over time, the project team will provide context for the management of such populations and inform predictions about future challenges.

This project will include four subteams focusing on: 1) the archeological record; 2) archival information; 3) a literature review; and 4) stranding information. Together, these subteams will work to create a comprehensive timeline of harbor seal abundance, distribution and human perceptions in the southeast.

The archeological record and archival information subteams will work closely with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and their digital repositories. The archeological subteam will focus on the period before European colonization, using information from middens, bone fragments and other historical records to understand the distribution of harbor seals in North Carolina prior to the 1500s. The archival subteam will focus on the period from European contact to the present day, by analyzing newspaper articles. Students will extract information about the number and location of seals, as well as the language used to describe their interactions with humans.

The literature review subteam will conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature, amassing what is known about the distribution, abundance and ecology of harbor seals from a scientific perspective. To achieve a comprehensive view of the scientific knowledge of harbor seals in North Carolina, this subteam will create a search string to find relevant materials from online databases. The students will then sort through these publications in Colandr, an online platform for conducting reviews. Papers that meet specified inclusion criteria will be exported, analyzed and summarized as our current scientific knowledge in this area. This work will allow for the exploration of potential drivers and ecological impacts related to harbor seals in the state.

The stranding subteam will analyze a publicly available data set for the southeast curated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, generating an understanding of the characteristics of harbor seals that have stranded in recent years throughout the southeastern U.S. The students will work to compile data on the sex, length, condition and cause of death of individuals, as well as tracking numeric estimates by month and year.

Anticipated Outputs

Peer-reviewed publication; infographic including a timeline of harbor seal abundance and distributions; interactive website (such as an ArcGIS StoryMap); posters and/or oral presentations at the 2026 Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Marine Mammal Symposium; data collection for future research on harbor seal body condition in the southeast

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this team will include 4 graduate students and 4 undergraduate students interested in biology, cultural and evolutionary anthropology, earth, climate, and environmental sciences, policy, history, marine science and conservation, sociology or visual media studies. The team will aim to have a strong representation of students in both the natural and social sciences with experience in archival analysis, statistics, storytelling and visual design would be well-equipped to conduct this work.

Team members will find, compile, analyze and communicate information about harbor seals in North Carolina. Team members will learn how to use historical and scientific documents to create a story that can be articulated to the public. By engaging in the project, team members will develop skills in science communication, statistics, graphic design, scientific writing, web design, presenting and team-based communication. Graduate and professional students will be encouraged to take leadership roles within their subteams.

In Fall 2025, the team will meet on Fridays from 10-11 a.m.

All project team members will have the opportunity travel to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina to see harbor seals in person during the winter. The project team will also travel to the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., to meet with Smithsonian project partners and attend a guided behind-the-scenes tour of the marine mammal collection. Exact dates for each to be determined.

Timing

Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

• Fall 2025: Access Smithsonian archives and compile records of interest; read and extract information from records of interest; create search string for literature review; conduct title and abstract screening; compile and extract data from Level A Stranding information
• Spring 2026: Read, summarize and synthesize historical information; read, summarize and synthesize scientific literature; conduct statistical analysis on stranding data; create infographic summarizing key findings; create interactive website

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters

 

_{Image: Harbor seal, by Tom Snow}