Several investigators have reported an increase 

 in seal numbers elsewhere in New England over 

 the past decade. Gilbert and Stein (footnote 4) 

 reported a total of 10,483 seals counted in June 

 1981 between Isles of Shoals on the Maine-New 

 Hampshire border and the Canadian border. This 

 nearly doubled the 1973 census of 5,786 seals re- 

 ported for the same area by Richardson ( footnote 

 1). Our data at Stage Point confirm this increase in 

 southern New England. 



The possibility does exist that the increase ob- 

 served at Stage Point is merely the result of more 

 thorough survey coverage in recent years; how- 

 ever, coastal bird observations were made regu- 

 larly at Stage Point before 1973-74 by staff at the 

 Manomet Bird Observatory. Any large number 

 of seals would have been noticed during such 

 counts. 



The present harbor seal distribution, abun- 

 dance, and breeding status in Massachusetts have 

 changed considerably from the past. Allen (1869) 

 reported "hundreds" of seals during the summer in 

 Boston Harbor. As late as the 1930s and 1940s, 

 harbor seals were permanent residents on Cape 

 Cod (Prescott 1981) and pupping occurred 

 throughout Massachusetts. Katona et al. (1983) 

 suggested that the retention of the bounty until 

 1962 led to the extirpation of breeding activity in 

 Massachusetts. The continued protection of an in- 

 creasing harbor seal population throughout New 

 England may result in expansion of the present 

 breeding range southward into areas formerly 

 used for pupping. 



Acknowledgments 



We wish to thank many people who helped in the 

 counts: Brian A. Harrington (1972-74), Pam Cot- 

 ton and Frank Gardner (1975-76), Kevin D. Pow- 

 ers (1977-79), and Ann M. Frothingham (1978-79). 

 James R. Gilbert, Kate M. Wynne, Kevin D. Pow- 

 ers, and anonymous reviewers commented on pre- 

 vious drafts of this manuscript. This study was 

 funded by National Marine Fisheries Service/ 

 Northeast Fisheries Center Contract Nos. NA- 

 80-FA-00005 and NA-82-FA-00007, and private 

 funding. 



Bonner, W. n. 



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BONNER, W. N., AND S. R. WlTTHAMES. 



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 EVERITT, R. D., AND R. J. BEACH. 



1982. Marine mammal-fisheries interactions in Oregon 

 and Washington: An Overview. In K. Sabol (editor). 

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HEWER, H. R. 



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katona, s. K., v. Rough, and d. t Richardson. 



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KING, J. E. 



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Maxwell, G. 



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REIJNDERS, R J. H. 



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SCHNEIDER, D. S.. AND R M. PAYNE. 



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Manomet Bird Observatory 

 Manomet, MA 02345 



Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 

 University of California 

 Irvine, C A 92717 



P. Michael Payne 



David C. Schneider 



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442 



