Decline Of Harp Seal Essay

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Decline of Harp Seal Population

The Harp Seal lives in the chilly waters of the North Atlantic and Artic oceans. They spend majority of their time swimming, but do go on land. The Harp Seal eats approximately sixty-seven species of fish and seventy species of invertebrates. These animals are prey of Polar Bears, Killer Whales, and Greenland Sharks (Kovacs, 2015). The Harp Seal’s status is least concerned. They move to Newfoundland, the Greenland Sea, and the White Sea for breeding. As a result of climate change and overfishing, it is predicted that Harp Seal populations will decrease because of loss of pup raising space and loss of food supply. National Geographic. (2016) Climate change increases the carbon dioxide levels in oceans. The increased CO2 causes shifts in ocean conditions, rising sea temperatures, rising of sea levels, etc. The increase of oceanic temperatures causes the melting of sea ice. The model shows this as climate change has an arrow going to sea ice melting. Sea ice is essential to Harp Seals. They depend on sea ice as a platform for pupping, molting, and resting (Kovacs, 2015). The Harp Seal pups stay immobile on ice packs for the first twelve days of their life to gain fat. Sea ice decline is resulting in less Harp Seal pups being born and surviving. The model shows this, because sea ice …show more content…

Since the 1500s Harp Seals have been hunted for their oil. Now a more modern phenomenon is causing them to be hunted, their white fluffy fur. Only baby Harp Seals have the white fur so this hunting adds to the difficultly of reaching adulthood. As the fur is of very high value they were hunted heavily causing population decrease. The model shows overfishing directly leads to the decline in the Harp Seal population. However, in the 70s conservation laws were passed protecting them. Yet, unfortunately Harp Seals are still-hunted adding to the decline of their population. (Kovacs,

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