TY - JOUR

T1 - Pinniped Haul-out Sites on the Kuril Islands

AU - Popov, Igor

AU - Kuznetsov, Mikhail

AU - Iurmanov, Anton

PY - 2025/12/1

Y1 - 2025/12/1

N2 - Pinnipeds have suffered from a long period of overharvesting; currently they suffer from conflict with fishermen, habitat loss, pollution and other destructive processes. Identifying the remaining refuges for pinnipeds is a modern challenge for conservation biology, in particular in remote, scarcely populated areas that cannot be easily surveyed, including Kuril Islands. Steller’s sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus), spotted seal (Phoca largha) and harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) occur there; local populations of the latter are considered a subspecies, the Kuril harbor seal (Phoca vitulina stejnegeri). The study aimed to identify the pinniped haul-out sites on the Kuril Islands. Sections of shoreline of Iturup Island were surveyed from land, counting the number of pinnipeds and describing the coastal geomorphology of haul-out sites, which was used to guide the survey of similar coastal sections on other islands. Most of the obtained data concerned harbor seals on Iturup and Urup islands. The seals concentrated on rocky islets covering 0.75–2.2 ha of the water surface located along cliffsides near the shoreline. The other pinniped species occurred in small numbers in similar habitats. Kuril harbor seals occupied a small part of the potentially suitable habitats, which may indicate a recent decline.

AB - Pinnipeds have suffered from a long period of overharvesting; currently they suffer from conflict with fishermen, habitat loss, pollution and other destructive processes. Identifying the remaining refuges for pinnipeds is a modern challenge for conservation biology, in particular in remote, scarcely populated areas that cannot be easily surveyed, including Kuril Islands. Steller’s sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus), spotted seal (Phoca largha) and harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) occur there; local populations of the latter are considered a subspecies, the Kuril harbor seal (Phoca vitulina stejnegeri). The study aimed to identify the pinniped haul-out sites on the Kuril Islands. Sections of shoreline of Iturup Island were surveyed from land, counting the number of pinnipeds and describing the coastal geomorphology of haul-out sites, which was used to guide the survey of similar coastal sections on other islands. Most of the obtained data concerned harbor seals on Iturup and Urup islands. The seals concentrated on rocky islets covering 0.75–2.2 ha of the water surface located along cliffsides near the shoreline. The other pinniped species occurred in small numbers in similar habitats. Kuril harbor seals occupied a small part of the potentially suitable habitats, which may indicate a recent decline.

KW - Aquatic mammals

KW - Coastal landforms

KW - Environmental survey

KW - Islands

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/3d991a3e-8d32-3aea-9c9e-71d3a6030c69/

U2 - 10.1007/s41208-025-00955-8

DO - 10.1007/s41208-025-00955-8

M3 - Article

VL - 41

JO - Thalassas

JF - Thalassas

SN - 0212-5919

IS - 4

M1 - 186

ER -