Satellite Tagged Seals

On Tuesday February 24th this female Grey seal pup created a bit of a stir in Harvey Cedars when she was found in the middle of Long Beach Blvd. in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey after having wandered up a beach access path sometime in the early morning hours. She was in a very dangerous situation, especially since the pup’s coloration made her look like a lump of snow in the road. Fortunately, an alert driver spotted her and called the police. The Harvey Cedars Police Department and the Harvey Cedars Department of Public Works helped to keep this pup safe until our team arrived on scene. Traffic was blocked as the seal made her way to Middlesex Ave. where she eventually stopped to take a nap in the middle of the block. MMSC's Stranding Team transported the seal to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine. This patient received eight weeks of treatment for a respiratory infection and malnutrition. 

Update 4/21/26: Now weighing a healthy 73lbs, she was tagged #13 on her right rear flipper for future identification and released at the Brigantine Inlet at the North Brigantine Natural Area. In a collaboration with our stranding network partner,  Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, we were able to satellite and acoustic tag her as well! This project will enable us to conduct post rehabilitation monitoring of this former patient.  The tags will provide movement, dive and haul out data. The satellite tag affixed to the seal's back is temporary, and will fall off when she sheds her coat during her next molt. The acoustic tag on the seal's rear flipper will track our former patient's long-term movement as she swims past existing underwater receivers in the mid and north Atlantic Ocean.  For more information on this project, please see the link below.