Sea Surface Temperatures and Their Relationship to the Survival of Juvenile Male Northern Fur Seals from the Pribilof Islands

Abstract

Several chapters in this volume have compared attendance patterns of female fur seals and the growth and survival of fur seal pups during normal years and during the El Niño event of 1982–83. DeLong and Antonelis have shown that northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) breeding on San Miguel island in California were adversely affected by the 1982–83 El Niño: females foraged for longer periods than normal, and weights of pups at age 3 months and survival of pups during their first 3 months were significantly less than other years. On the other hand, Gentry found no such effects for northern fur seals breeding on St. George Island (part of the Pribilof Islands) in Alaska; this is consistent with Niebauer’s (1988) analysis that the 1982–83 El Niño had only a limited effect in the Bering Sea. Both the Gentry and the DeLong and Antonelis studies were conducted during the May-September breeding seasons.