(SitNews) - Something new is happening in the cold waters of northern and western Alaska. Unusual injuries such as bite marks and flipper amputations are showing up on seals in the Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea regions.

Ice-associated seals and Steller sea lions in particular appear to be in contact with a typically uncommon predator in these waters, according to a group of scientists, hunters and subsistence managers who are watching the trend.

Who is the likely culprit? Sharks.

Several species are known to visit the western and northern coasts of Alaska, including sleeper sharks, dogfish shark, Greenland shark and salmon shark. A variety of northern shark species seem to be following the movements of prey species venturing farther north due to warmer ocean temperatures.

That’s according to a group of scientists and observers from Alaska Sea Grant, the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, Kawerak Inc. and Ocean Associates Inc. that have been recording injuries to or attacks on pinnipeds through stranding data, aerial survey sightings, marine mammal hunter observations and bycatch.

“People are providing information on harvested seals with amputated flippers because they don’t normally see that. These are not the marks of a killer whale. Killer whales have pegged teeth - the injury pattern would be different and community members are  noting these are novel injuries,” said Gay Sheffield, an Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent in Nome.

“In some injuries we’ve seen, bone has been sliced. There have been penetrating stab wounds and circular bite marks. The flesh is sometimes torn as if a sharp, triangular-shaped object has ripped the skin leaving an upside-down V pattern,” said Sheffield.

Sheffield has been sharing information with, among others, Raphaela Stimmelmayr, a wildlife veterinarian and research biologist with the North Slope Borough, who is also tracking  the unusual injuries.

“Some of the injuries reminded me of what I saw in sea turtles attacked by sharks when I worked in the tropics,” said the Utqiavik-based vet. “It’s very suggestive of shark bites.”

Both scientists are quick to point out that they don’t have enough evidence at this point to say with certainty what is going on but by working with coastal communities, Kawerak, and each other, they hope to collaboratively learn what may be attacking the pinnipeds. They presented a scientific poster about shark-pinniped interactions at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage last January.

The poster, titled “Sharks and shark predation on ice seals and sea lions: Preliminary results from the Bering Strait and the North Slope regions, Alaska,” has a table that lists shark sightings, strandings and bycatch dating back to 1950. It shows increased reports from 2010 onward. In the waters off Gambell that year, a very large shark was reported by hunters as attacking a bull sea lion, weighing several hundred pounds, in the water. (Click here to view the large poster)

“There are not many sharks that could kill a large sea lion,” Sheffield said, noting that she has no doubt as to the hunters’ observation.

Brandon Ahmasuk, Subsistence Resources program director with Kawerak, said the hunters who witnessed the attack described the bull sea lion leaping out of the water and then making a beeline toward shore. Next, they saw what looked like a huge shark before it dove below the surface. They soon saw a large pool of blood in the water and no sign of the sea lion.

“They estimated the shark was between 14 and 16 feet in length,” Ahmasuk said.

Currently, there is one record of a great white shark, at least 12 feet in length, caught in the central Bering Sea during August 1979.  The fisherman cut open the stomach of the shark to see what it had been feeding on. Large chunks of Steller sea lion fell out, according to Sheffield.

It is unclear if the number of shark attacks on pinnipeds is picking up or if it’s a matter of people providing more observations. Some coastal residents of western and northern Alaska began to report more unusual marine mammal sightings beginning in 2011 when over 600 seals in northern and western Alaska beached themselves or were harvested. The seals were found to have skin lesions, hair loss, weakness or some combination of both. A cause of the disease was never determined.

The scientists tracking the suspected shark injuries have a working theory.

“We speculate ocean temperate rise, reduced sea ice coverage, and associated movements of prey species (e.g., fish, marine mammals, etc.) are resulting in increased exposure of northern shark species to pinniped prey,” according to the poster.

It’s unclear whether more sharks in Alaska’s northern waters will have any major biological implications for seals and sea lions, Stimmelmayr said.

But it’s important to compile field observations and data to document changes, she said.

With historically low sea ice conditions in the Bering Sea in recent years, species are showing up that local residents haven’t seen before, like hanasaki crabs, also known as spiny king crabs, said Ahmasuk. Hanasakis, which taste similar to king crab, are historically found in Asia but have been documented in the Bering Strait region in recent years.

Ahmasuk said some other marine species are arriving earlier in the summer, such as salmon, as ocean temperatures warm. To him it makes sense that there would be more sharks in northern waters as well.

“These animals listen to Mother Nature. They don’t follow the Fish and Game calendar,” he said.

This article is provided as a public service by the UAF Alaska Sea Grant College. Paula Dobbyn [paula.dobbyn@alaska.edu] is an information officer/writer for Alaska Sea Grant.

 

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