Distribution of populations of ringed seal Phoca hispida and bearded seal Erignathus barbatus in shallow and average-deep areas of the southwestern part of the Kara Sea in summer 2015

Abstract

In August–September 2015 in the southwest part of the Kara Sea, visual censuses of ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and bearded seal (Erignatus barbatus) from research vessels were carried out in the water area of 49 814 km². For the first time, for calculation of abundance and density on ice-free area the SEAL-CALCULATION (TYULEN-RASCHET) software was used with application of separate extrapolation method by the selected sectors. Calculation for the whole census polygon yielded abundance of ringed seal of 4163 ± 16.9% and abundance of bearded seal of 1026 ± 28.4%. On the basis of the census results, a preliminary estimation of distribution of pinnipeds by various depths is presented.