It’s that time of year again! For long-time followers and fans of the Conservation and Research Department, you already know that May means seals and satellite tagging in Churchill!

If you’re new to our conservation work; each May, our Conservation and Research team travels to Churchill along Manitoba’s Arctic coastline of Hudson Bay to study harbour seals, one of three seal species found in the region. As part of our efforts to understand the changing Arctic, our team, with our partners, conducts research within Hudson Bay’s unique ecosystem to assess the effects of climate change and human activity.

Seal team navigates the ice with gear near the floe edge near Churchill, Manitoba (Photo: S. Petersen)

Our largest team yet (up to 12 people from five organizations, including APC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Seal River Watershed Alliance, the University of Manitoba, and the Churchill Northern Studies Centre!), worked for 18 days to further our understanding of how harbour seals use the marine and freshwater environments. Harbour seals are a largely temperate-adapted species, and our previous work has shown that harbour seal numbers have increased in the area since the 1990s. Harbour seals are also known to travel up rivers during the open water period in the summer. A few seal species and sub-populations of harbour seals, like the Lacs des Loups Marins seals, have fully adapted to life in a freshwater environment year-round.

Learning about seal behaviour, movement, diet, and population numbers provides many benefits to Manitobans and seals. The research will provide information to wildlife managers so that seals and people can coexist, provide insight into how these northern seals can survive, give a baseline so new threats can be detected and reduced, and provide local ecotourism operators with more information to share with visitors.

This spring, we focused again on putting satellite telemetry devices on harbour seals, using the sea ice floe edge as our work platform. The floe edge is the area where sea ice meets open water, and based on experience and local knowledge, is where harbour seals tend to congregate while they wait for the ice to break up. The floe edge that seals use, where the sea ice is attached to the land (landfast ice) ends in open water, is near the mouth of the Churchill River.

View of approximately 30 harbour seals hauled out at the floe edge near the Churchill River estuary (Photo: C. Shuert)

How we get to the floe edge depends on many factors and requires the guidance and expertise of local guides and knowledge holders. On a good day, we load up skidoos and qamutiiks to travel to the ice edge, navigating ridges and gaps in the sea ice. Sea ice is also home to polar bears and can be dangerous to navigate. As such, we rely on the expert knowledge of our local guide and polar bear monitor, though everyone is responsible for maintaining vigilance.

The sea ice environment is a living, constantly shifting environment. Our first week, we were met with a strong northerly wind that stacked up the floating sea ice into the landfast ice. We attempted to head out to our research spot but were met with a 2-meter-high pile of ice, known as a stamukha. Stamukhi form when winds push sea ice onto the landfast ice, which causes it to stack up like a jumble of dominoes. While we could see the floe edge about a kilometre away, we were unable to safely traverse the stamukha with our gear, skidoos, and qamutiiks.  

The team investigates the stamukhi at the floe edge (Photo: C. Breiter).

Since the weather is constantly shifting, we waited for another storm to come through and push the sea ice back into Hudson Bay. A few days later, we made it to the floe edge with the team. There, we were met with many seals hauled out on the floe edge and deployed our nets. The seals were captured using a net placed in the water perpendicular to the floe edge. Once a seal was captured and brought on shore, we worked quickly to minimize stress to the animal, record a myriad of information regarding the health of each animal, and attach two satellite transmitters with the aid of our veterinary staff. One transmitter provides various detailed information for a few months before it falls off. The other transmits the location when the seal is out of the water but will last about two years. All research projects are reviewed by Animal Care councils and the Research Ethics Review Committee here at APC.

This season, we were joined by staff from APC, researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, research staff from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre and two land guardians and an elder from our collaborators at Seal River Watershed Alliance. We exchanged knowledge on seals, navigating the sea ice, and lots of smiles and laughs. Over three full days, we caught and tagged 6 adult harbour seals: Our most successful season, yet!

The results from our work have demonstrated that harbour seals can travel between the marine environment of Hudson Bay, many kilometres inland along river systems to inland lakes. With this research, we are only beginning to understand the movement of these animals and hope to continue investigating the connectivity of these two important ecosystems. Over the next few weeks and months, we will continue to monitor these seals and a few tagged last year whose tags are still transmitting data. This will provide us with more information on harbour seal movement and behaviour in the Hudson Bay.

Seal movement path from 2023 season, highlighting movement up and down the Seal River and Churchill River estuary (Animation by K. Florko)

Understanding the western Hudson Bay ecosystem and recognizing changes helps provide valuable data to support the establishment of a National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) and adjacent terrestrial Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the region. NMCAs are established and managed to protect and conserve representative marine areas for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of the people of Canada and the world.

This research, and all research that the Conservation and Research team at APC participates, contributes to understanding and protecting our natural heritage. We all can play a part in protecting biodiversity by reducing our carbon footprints to reduce climate warming and getting involved in initiatives that protect northern ecosystems like the Seal River Watershed IPCA. You can help support the work done by the Conservation and Research team at APC by donating to the Wildlife Conservation Fund.