Of all the seals throughout the world the Harp Seals are third on the list of population. After shedding their old hair in the month of April the seals move northward and spend the summer near Greenland and on the Arctic islands of the Northwest Territories. Around The September the seals begin their migration south.
Suckling of the Harp Seal pup lasts for about 12 days. During this nursing period the pup gains three to four times it weight at birth that is about 24 pounds. Then the mother seal abandons the pup when the young are about four weeks old. Lack of the mother's milk causing hunger forces the young pups to go into the water where they begin feeding on krill and begin migrating north.
Research shows that over 120 species of fish and invertebrates are on the Harp Seal's diet. The Harp Seal's diet consists primarily of ocean fish and crustaceans. Young seals feed on the water's surface while the adults dive deeper to depths of 400 feet for fish. Arctic cods seem the most significant food for the seals. The Harp Seals also eat herring, sculpin, halibut, redfish, and a large number of crustaceans like krill, shrimps and prawns. Each adult seal eats about 1,000 pounds of fish each year. The seals eat more food in the summer and winter months than during the spring and fall.
Polar bears, killer whales, sharks and man are the main predators of the Harp Seal. Walruses also prey on harp seal females and pups. Also discarded fish netting, and oil pollution has a negative affect on the seal's surviving.
In the beginning of 2001 various seal species, including harp seals, appeared along the east coast of the United States. Many of these seals needed rescue and rehabilitation. Most of the seals needing help were undernourished pups. Other seals needing help were adult seals injured, bitten by other seals or impaired by bacterial infections.
Harp Seals begin to mate at about six years of age and can live up to 40 years of age.
The Harp Seal is commercially hunted, normally on their breeding grounds during the spring in Canada, Norway and Russia.
The Harp Seal is one of Canada's most debatable wild species. A marketable product, the young seal's white coat was hunted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in March. The stopping of the hunt had a harmful consequence on the Inuit that already had a low income and disadvantaged.
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