A note on seal watching in the Northeast United States

The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is a yearround inhabitant of coastal waters of eastern Canada and Maine (Boulva and McLaren, 1979), and occurs seasonally along the New Hampshire to New Jersey coasts from September through late May (Barlas 1999, Hoover et al. 1999, Slocum et al. 1999) (Fig. 1). The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) has a similar winter distribution in U.S. coastal waters, and is found year-round further south to Massachusetts. Both species haul-out on identical substrate and mixed groups are not uncommon, particularly around Cape Cod (Barlas 1999, Murray 2008). Many of the haulout sites are viewable from shore or accessible by foot, small boat and aircraft. Therefore, seal watching is a popular activity for the general public, and is an important component of the coastal marine eco-tourism industry. Organized seal watching most likely evolved as an addition to existing programmes, such as nature walks, whale watching, birding, charter fishing, and coastal embayment monitoring programmes (e.g., Narragansett Save the Bay; http://www.savebay.org).

Seal watching programmes provide important information on the level of public interest and potential support for conserving protected species, and provide a venue for researchers to bring science to the public.
To characterize seal watching off the northeast US coast we conducted a phone survey of state government agencies, environmental organizations, and commercial enterprises in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.A list of 43 short-answer survey questions was developed, covering diverse topics such as fees, presence/absence of a naturalist, and reporting/response to stranded animals or human harassment (Table 1).Organized seal watching activities included in our survey were those which have a regular schedule, pricing structure, and are open to the general public.Our survey did not take into account organizations that conduct one-time seal-walks for their membership.Thirty seal watching organizations were identified (Table 2), and all but one agreed to be interviewed.The 29 interviewed organizations (Table 2) represented private charters (62%), state agencies (17%), non-profit organizations (17%), and resorts (3%).Some organizations offer both seal cruises and walks, while other organizations offer only one programme yielding a total of 33 programmes.Seal walk programmes were confined to New York and Connecticut.
The lead naturalists of seal watching operations frequently serve as vessel captains, and were difficult to reach by phone.Therefore, interviews were conducted with office employees who were not actively participating in seal watching activities.Most organizations were unwilling to provide the exact number of passengers so only minimum estimates were obtained from the interviews.Likewise, most organizations would not provide financial information.To estimate revenues generated by seal watching excursions, fees were averaged over all states and trip types.
The estimated total annual number of passengers carried exceeded 55,000 (Table 2).Private companies operated all tours in Maine, whereas in Massachusetts and Connecticut tours were operated by private, non-profit, and state-funded organizations.A non-profit organization operates the sole seal watch excursion in Rhode Island.52% of all tours have a designated naturalist and in 34% the captain serves as narrator.Over 3,700 seal watching excursions of these types are conducted annually.These excursions last from 1-6 hours, and the number of passengers per boat is highly variable (6 to 150).
An average donation of 5 USD is normally requested for guided seal walks, while boat excursions range from 20 -90 USD per adult.Using only adult ticket prices, we estimated that annual revenue from boat-based seal excursions is approximately 1.7 million USD.Walking tours only generate around nine thousand USD.Comparatively, Campbell (1992) estimated that seal watching revenue in Canada in 1992 was 1.27 million CAD (1.0 million USD).
The largest number and greatest diversity of seal cruises occurs in Maine.Most of the trips are multi-themed (i.e.seal, whale, and puffin watching, lobster fishing demonstrations, and general nature tours).The harbour seal is the major species seen, although on occasion grey seals are also seen.
In Massachusetts, 4 of the 5 organizations that offer seal watching excursions focus solely on observing seals in their natural habitat.One hotel-operated land-based tour provides general nature information on seals seen in Massachusetts.Depending on location and season, the haulout sites may be dominated by either harbour seals or grey seals, or may contain mixed groups.In Rhode Island and Connecticut, seal watch cruises are focused on harbour seals, since grey seals are rarely seen.New York has 4 organizations that perform seal watch excursions, two of which conduct both land-based and boat trips.Seal walks began on Eastern Long Island at Montauk Point State Park as member tours by non-profit organizations.As interest grew, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation also began conducting walks.This increased the number of tour groups and led to a revolving-door effect for the single access point to view the seals.This activity increased non-intentional harassment (e.g.flushing) of seals.To counteract these activities, New York employed naturalists and erected signs to educate the public.Twenty-eight percent of the organizations distribute educational material and National Marine Fisheries Service Seal Watching Guidelines.Most organizations do not record environmental data or marine debris, and did not identify seal harassment (i.e.primarily boat approaches to haulouts) as an issue.If observed, however, harassment was reported to the local stranding group or harbour patrol.All Massachusetts organizations observed harassment of seals, but only 2 in Maine and none in Connecticut.
As seal populations and their accessibility increases, seal excursions have increased in number and frequency.These excursions provide an economic stimulus to the local economy while providing a great platform for data collection and education.Although seal watching has been around for a long time, only recently have steps been taken to establish and enforce seal watching guidelines.Seal watching trips are a great opportunity for education and guidance, but unfortunately, not all trips are maximizing the outreach and conservation components.The survey conducted revealed that all excursions educate about general pinniped biology yet few touch on the regulations surrounding their protection or who to call if an animal is being harassed or is in need of care.
There is no doubt that seal watching excursions have an impact on the populations which they observe.Whether that impact is positive or negative is solely based on the operators of the seal watching trips.
Guidelines have been drafted by the National Marine Fisheries Service: (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/education/ner_seal_watching.pdf) but there is no incentive for dissemination of this information.As ecotourism is growing, now is an opportunity to educate the public about ecosystem-based management and that humans are an integral part of the environment.Without these educational guidelines we could be educating the public to harass these animals.By incorporating best seal watching practices on all excursions we could minimize the impacts of these programmes on animals.

Table 2 .
Summary of seal watching by state