Photo: Janet Jordon

When I first came to New York  thirty five years ago, the closest thing to wildlife in the waters of the harbor were what we referred to as “Hudson River trout” – condoms that had been flushed through the New York sewer system into the river,  that seemed to swim in and out with the tides.  Fortunately things have changed considerably since then.  Last April we posted about a harbor seal which chose to sunbathe in the Hudson River on the remains of an old Jersey City dock, directly across from Manhattan.  For over a hundred years there had been no seals in New York harbor until in 2006 when they began to return.  This year there is a colony of seals  on Swinburne Island,  just outside the mouth of the inner harbor. Seal watching boats have been running every weekend.  Seal watching season ends in New York by about the end of April when most seals migrate north.

Seal Expedition In New York Harbor: MyFoxNY.com

The majority of the seals this year are harbor seals but a few harp seals have been spotted as well.  For reasons, no one quite understands, harp seals have been sighted this year all along the eastern seaboard, as far south as the Carolinas.

Harp seals mysteriously migrating down East Coast

Marine biologists say they are seeing an unusual trend well over 100 adult harp seal sightings from Maine all the way to North Carolina. The animals are native to Canada and Greenland and don’t usually travel so far south.

Despite protests, harp seals are still hunted in Canada.  In 2010, 67,327 harp seals were killed in the hunt, according Fisheries and Oceans Canada.