Following the recent death of a harbour seal in Sea Dog Cove, the Atlantic Coastal Action Program is asking boaters to slow down for wildlife.
Liane Thibodeau, a citizen scientist who monitors Sea Dog Cove for ACAP, noticed a dead harbour seal had washed up on the beach near her home from a suspected propeller strike.
Sea Dog Cove is located between Summerville, N.B. and Kennebecasis Island.
Roxanne MacKinnon is the executive director for ACAP Saint John.
“She reached out to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and they did confirm it was a propellor strike that ended up killing the seal and it washed up very close to her house. She sent us an email to let us know and to spread the word,” MacKinnon said.
ACAP Saint John posted about it on social media to remind people wildlife is all around us.
“We share our natural spaces with wildlife and [we want people] to be mindful of that. If you are in an area like Sea Dog Cove you know is populated with seals and you happen to be on a boat to slow down a little bit and take a look,” MacKinnon said.
MacKinnon said the death of two other seals, initially thought to be killed by propeller strikes, were actually caused by fishing entanglements.
ACAP Saint John started monitoring the seal population in 2018 at various sites including Black Beach, Tin Can Beach and the Irving Nature Park.
“We count the number of seals that we can see. We are using that to track the population of seals and compare it to previous studies that were done in the 1990s to see where our seal population is today,” MacKinnon said.
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