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Discovering Kwilakm
  • Discovering Kwilákm
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  • Changing Climate
    • Hotter Ocean Temperatures
    • Changing Ocean Chemistry
    • Rising Sea Levels and Intensifying Winter Storms
    • When Seashore Temperatures Spike – Killer Heat Dome 2021
  • Terminal Creek
    • Where does Terminal Creek’s Water Come From?
    • Signal Crayfish
    • Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery
  • The Lagoon
    • The Tidal Inlet that became the Lagoon
    • Aquatic Plants
    • Chum Salmon
    • The Beaver
    • Canada Geese
    • Three-Spined Stickleback
  • Shores
    • Nearshore Forests
    • Beaches
    • The Terminal Creek Sand Flats
    • The Curious Clay Beds of Kwilákm
    • Blue Mussels
    • Clams
    • Purple Stars
    • Oysters in Kwilákm
  • Shallows
    • Eelgrass
    • Young Chum Salmon
    • Winter Bay Birds
    • Year-Round Bay Birds
  • Deeper Waters
    • Plankton
    • Northern Anchovy
    • Harbour Seal
    • Octopus
Conservancy logoBowen Island Conservancy
    • About
    • Get Involved
  • Discovering Kwilákm
    • About
    • Get Involved
  • Changing Climate
    • Hotter Ocean Temperatures
    • Changing Ocean Chemistry
    • Rising Sea Levels and Intensifying Winter Storms
    • When Seashore Temperatures Spike – Killer Heat Dome 2021
  • Terminal Creek
    • Where does Terminal Creek’s Water Come From?
    • Signal Crayfish
    • Terminal Creek Fish Hatchery
  • The Lagoon
    • The Tidal Inlet that became the Lagoon
    • Aquatic Plants
    • Chum Salmon
    • The Beaver
    • Canada Geese
    • Three-Spined Stickleback
  • Shores
    • Nearshore Forests
    • Beaches
    • The Terminal Creek Sand Flats
    • The Curious Clay Beds of Kwilákm
    • Blue Mussels
    • Clams
    • Purple Stars
    • Oysters in Kwilákm
  • Shallows
    • Eelgrass
    • Young Chum Salmon
    • Winter Bay Birds
    • Year-Round Bay Birds
  • Deeper Waters
    • Plankton
    • Northern Anchovy
    • Harbour Seal
    • Octopus

Photo: Will Husby

Deeper Water

Harbour Seal

(Phoca vitulina)

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Discover Kwilakm » Story » Deeper Waters » Harbour Seal
Harbour seal on the rocks
Photo:Will Husby

We are fortunate that we can count on seeing harbour seals in Kwilákm and along the other shores of Bowen Island just about any time of year. If you are a paddler or swimmer, or even just walking along the shore, you will know that these sea dogs are a curious bunch, often approaching to see what we are doing.

Swimming harbour seal
A curious harbour seal checking out people onshore. Photo:Will Husby

Harbour seals are distinctive with half-submerged rounded heads and large dark eyes, and their habit of slipping away underwater nose-last.

During the summer, you may see them hauled out at low tide on a rocky reef just offshore of the large dock at the Bowen Lodge on the south side of Kwilákm.

Seals lounging offshore in the water
Three seals lounging on the rocks near Bowen Lodge. Photo:Will Husby

During salmon runs, seals will congregate near the Causeway, trying to intercept returning salmon.

Seal chasing a salmon
Seal chasing chum salmon on the Causeway spillway during salmon spawn in October, 2018. Photo: Bob Turner.
Seal with salmon in its mouth
Seal with salmon in its mouth during fall salmon run, Kwilákm. Photo: Bob Turner.
Juvenile seal swimming underwater
Young seal swimming underwater near the Causeway. Photo: Bob Turner.

In January 2019, a large number of adult seals spent a week hunting anchovy in Kwilákm, and young seals were left nearby in a nursery in the shallows by the Causeway.

Seal hunting anchovy
Seal underwater hunting anchovy. Photo: Bob Turner.

Harbour seals also congregate in nearby Snug Cove. They use a favorite haul-out rock below the cliffs near the navigation light at the east end of Dorman Point. At times, the Union Steamship Marina has had its own resident seal. One year, a female seal birthed a seal pub on one of the floats in the marina.

Seal and pup on the rocks
Seal hauled out with pup on nearby Worlecombe Island. Photo: Bob Turner.

Seal coats are remarkably variable in colour and pattern. The background colour can range from cream to grey to black with either dark or light-coloured spots. Adult seals can weigh up to 70 kg, stretch 1.5 m in length, and live 20 to 30 years. They are opportunistic feeders with a varied diet that includes crabs, herring, anchovy, and other fish.

Check out these video links:

More About Deeper Waters

  • Deeper Waters
  • Plankton
  • Northern Anchovy
  • Harbour Seal
  • Octopus
  • Adam Taylor’s Close Encounters of the Octopus Kind

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