Federal and tribal crews tag about 1,300 fur seal pups on the Pribilofs

NOAA Fisheries said in its tribal newsletter released Monday that federal scientists and tribal staff from St. Paul and St. George islands have been conducting pup-tagging work as part of ongoing research on a stock NOAA has designated as depleted.

The research is part of long-term monitoring under the stock's Conservation Plan, which identifies survival, movement, diet, disease and pollutant exposure as areas requiring further study to understand the population's decline.

The work is carried out jointly by NOAA Fisheries and the tribal governments of St. Paul and St. George islands, which co-manage subsistence use of the stock. On St. George, the Island Sentinel program assists with monitoring fur seals and their habitat and supports priority NMFS research projects, including tissue sampling.

The newsletter describes the work as long-term research consistent with the stock's Conservation Plan. NOAA finalized a revised version of that plan in 2024, according to the Federal Register notice. The stock was designated depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1988.

The two tribal governments signed co-management agreements with NOAA in 2000 and 2001. NOAA has trained tribal members on both islands to disentangle fur seals since the mid-1990s. On St. George, the Island Sentinel program helps with federal research. A cooperative agreement pays Island Sentinels to monitor fur seals and their habitat.

The research follows recent die-offs. In August 2025, 21 fur seals were found dead on St. George, and NOAA linked those fur seal deaths on St. George to saxitoxin from a harmful algal bloom. Ten seals died in a similar event on St. Paul a year earlier.