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<SCRIPT language=javascript type=text/javascript> var isoPubDate = 'October 08, 2011'</SCRIPT>By Karen Dandurant
news@seacoastonline.com
October 08, 2011 2:00 AM
PORTSMOUTH ? It will likely be late next week before results are in from necropsies on dozens of dead seals that washed up recently on New England shores.
This is not the first time such a large number of dead seals has been discovered. Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium, confirmed Friday that a similar event occurred late in 1979 to 1980.
LaCasse confirmed information sent to the Portsmouth Herald from Scott Mercer, a marine biologist living in the Cape Neddick section of York, Maine. Mercer said many dead seals that washed ashore at that time were determined to have been caused by a strain of avian (bird) flu.
There is no information showing bird flu could be to blame this time, LaCasse said. Forty-nine carcasses have been found from Massachusetts to Maine, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has joined the investigation.
LaCasse said residents should not approach or touch the seals, dead or alive. Disturbing a seal, or the carcass of seal, is a federal violation, LaCasse said.
In 1979-80, Mercer said, researchers thought that droppings from sea birds were being deposited on rocky ledges. When seals came onto the rocks to sun themselves and to rest, they picked up the virus from the rocks.
Mercer was involved in surveys of seal population when he ran his company, New England Whale Watch, out of Hampton. He was working closely with the New England Aquarium and was involved with the research when the seals started dying.
"They appeared to be dying so fast," Mercer said. "We'd walk up to them, and they looked fine, but they were dead."
Told of Mercer's recollection, LaCasse checked it out Friday.
"I reached a biologist who was around at the time of the bird flu event, and he said it did happen," LaCasse said. "He said it began in Cape Cod and was the worst there. Dead seals did wash up from Massachusetts to Maine.
"We are asking towns to remove carcasses as soon as possible," he said. "We always caution people they are putting themselves at risk when approaching the animals. It's not advisable. We spend hundreds of hours every year educating the public. You can't approach within 100 feet or it's a federal violation. Dogs investigate rotting animal flesh, and it exposes a lot of pathogens. This is particularly dangerous for the elderly, the young or anyone with a compromised health situation."
There is one distinguishable difference between the bird flu case 30-plus years ago and the current situation. Only pups are dying this year.
"What's different about this is the pathology," LaCasse said. "We are testing for underlying diseases that will include influenza, but this is not matching up. First, the flu usually happens in the winter or spring, Second, that big an outbreak should affect all age groups. So far, this has almost exclusively hit the young of the year ? harbor seals born this year."
Another possibility is simply that this crop of youngsters failed to thrive. LaCasse said seal pups have a 30 percent mortality rate.
"The seals compete for resources," he said. "The window we see deaths is August through mid-October. The pups are born in May and nursed to late June. They have a 30- to 90-day window to develop hunting skills."
That being said, LaCasse said, what they find surprising is that the dead seals have had sufficient levels of blubber, indicating they were healthy enough to survive.
National Marine Fisheries special agent Chris Schoppmeyer said they are watching for the reports on the seals. He said at this point, there is nothing to indicate foul play.
"But, if anything comes back that is suspicious in the report, we will launch an investigation," Schoppmeyer said.:tiphat:http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20111008-NEWS-110080319
