February 08, 1990 - Of Seals, Ships and 'Robbens' Island610 The Suffolk Times • February 8, 1990
Of Seals, Ships a Island
By Paul Stoutenburgh
Someone called me a short time ago
about their surprise and delight in
seeing a seal right along one of the
beaches here in our Peconic Bay. I can
appreciate her surprise for it is seldom
nowadays we find these interesting
animals so far up in our bays. Usually
the more common sightings are at
Focus on
Nature
Montauk or Orient Points or one of the
many inlets along the ocean shore such
as Shinnecock. As a matter of fact, I
can almost guarantee the winter
enthusiast a sighting of seals at
Montauk any day if he doesn't mind a
bit of walking.
Park your car in the big parking field
at Montauk Point and walk across the
road to the north that loops around, then
bear to your left. You'll see a road go-
ing downhill. Follow that for half a
mile, resisting the temptation to go
right for the water. Go a bit further in
back of the dunes and you'll reach the
beach. Once on the beach, you'll head
to the west another half -mile for a
group of rocks where the seals can
almost always be seen. I've seen as
many as six or seven there at one time;
some fishing, others sunbathing on the
rocks in their characteristic banana pose:
head up, tail up. It's also a good place
to find eider duck and harlequin, some of
the most colorful sea ducks from up
north.
The seals we see along our eastern
coast and the one that was seen in the
bay last week are harbor seals or what is
more generally known as the common
seal. From the ice of the far north to as
far south as Jersey, and occasionally as
far south as Virginia, the harbor seal is
the one we see.
One of the Smallest
This seal is one of our smallest seals
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
HARBOR SEAL — Usually we see only the small, round head of this seal curiously looking at us from
offshore. For East Enders the best place to see this seal is around Montauk or Orient Points or in the inlets
along our south shore during the winter.
reaching a length of four to six feet.
Their color varies from a whitish grey
to dark brown, the undersides being
lighter. These seals are curious and
friendly by nature and present an almost
coming look as they stare at you with
just their roundish heads popping above
water, their big black eyes searching.
These are not the seals we read about
that are slaughtered for the fur trade.
That is the harp seal or saddleback found
further north. There has been a loud
outcry from people in all walks of life
concerning the killing of the harp seal
young, particularly in the St. Lawrence
where the seals are born on the ice and
men walk up to them and club them to
death.
Seals are a part of a small group of
aquatic mammals, which means they are
warm- blooded and suckle their young.
The baby seals are usually born at night
on rocks or on sandy beaches such as
we find on Sable Island off Nova
Joseph L. Townsend
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Scotia. We were privileged to land and
do some exploring on this lonely spit
of sand often referred to as the graveyard
of the Atlantic, where in past years
hundreds and hundreds of ships were
wrecked. It was here we walked the
windswept beaches and explored the
dunes. All along the walk grey seals,
with their characteristic horse - shaped
head, followed us. They are the most
abundant seals at this "graveyard of
ships," but harbor seals also are found
in what is considered one of their major
birthing areas.
The baby harbor seals' worst enemy
in their early days of growth is not man
but sharks which patrol their nursery ar-
eas. Once born the young can take to
the water in hours and within a few days
are spending much of the daylight hours
with their mothers foraging for food in
the clear, cold waters. The pups are
weaned after about a month and soon
mating again takes place. The female of
the harbor seal has the unique ability to
hold off the growth of the fetus during
the summer months until mid -
September, giving birth the following
May or June.
In Freshwater, Too
These common seals can also be
found in the freshwater rivers and estuar-
ies along our coast. I found this to be
true when visiting friends in Maine
where I was amazed to find them feeding
in a river nearby.
As a general rule harbor seals are not
hunted today, but some years back they
were shot indiscriminately along the
coast and there was even a bounty on
them in Canada. Often the seals do dam-
age to fishermen's nets and, of course,
there are always those who blame the
shortage of fish on the seals. Perhaps
they have good reason to complain, but
as more and more was learned about this
interesting and harmless creature the
more it was realized that the bounty
system had no place in today's world. In
1977 Canada dropped the bounty con-
cept and, except for an occasional frus-
trated fisherman whose nets they dam-
age, they live a relatively protected life.
Seals are animals that have found life
in the sea more to their advantage than
on land, yet they have not completely
divorced themselves from Mother Earth.
At one time they were found throughout
our area and the story goes that Robins
Island got its name from the fact that in
colonial times seals were found sunning
themselves on the sandy spits of land
on both the north and south ends of the
island, giving it its Dutch name,
"Robbens Island," meaning a place
where seals abound. It is my hope that
they will again be part of the natural
world and that sightings will increase as
man gets to know these interesting and
beautiful creatures better.
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