ACS Monterey Bay Program for October 2000

Northern Fur Seal photo by Nancy Black
Northern Fur Seal in "jug handle" position.
Photo by Nancy Black.

Northern Fur Seals: dramatic changes over time in their occurrence in Central California


  • Thursday, October 26, 7:30 p.m.
  • Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks,
    Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove
  • Speaker: Robert K. Burton, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

At present the major breeding rookeries of the Northern Fur Seal lie far to the north in the Bering Sea-Aleutian region. Abundant evidence, revealed during site preparation for the new Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, shows that these seals occurred here year round and, remarkably, bred nearby. Small pup remains indicated hunting by humans since early Holocene times, 8000 years before present.

Our speaker discussed the techniques of isotopic and archeofaunal analysis which produced such dramatic results, placing them in an ecological context. Rob Burton received his Ph.D. from the Department of Earth Sciences at UC Santa Cruz.

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