Harbour seal Phoca vitulina movement patterns in the high-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway

Abstract

Harbour seals Phoca vitulina are mainly considered a temperate species, but the world’s northernmost population resides year-round in the high-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. In this study we document post-moulting at-sea movements of 30 individuals from this population using satellite relay data loggers deployed in the autumns of 2009 and 2010. All of the seals showed a strong preference for the west side of the archipelago, staying mainly in coastal areas (50%) but did occupy areas with substantial amounts of drifting ice (5 to 25%). Shallow water (<100 m) and steep bathymetric slopes were preferred to deep water or flat-bottom areas. Harbour seal distribution in Svalbard is largely restricted to coastal areas that are heavily influenced by Atlantic water brought northward in the West Spitsbergen Current; both the temperature and influx of this water type are predicted to increase in the future. It is thus likely that environmental conditions in Svalbard in the future will become more favourable for harbour seals.