A seal of cold North Atlantic and Arctic waters. It gathers on pack ice during breeding and molting seasons.
Adults have pale gray fur with black markings on the face and back. The white coat of young pups is shed as they develop.
Researchers examined changes in the drivers of population trends in the Northwest Atlantic harp seal population, using an integrated population model that combined about seven decades of pup production, reproductive rates, age structure, harvests, and environmental conditions. The model separated several causes of death and estimated population dynamics from records spanning 1952–2019. From 1951 to 1982, harvests of pups in their first year and adults were the main contributors to variation in trends.
After 1983, the relative importance of harvest mortality declined as natural mortality increased, especially for young-of-the-year seals. Since 2000, pup mortality associated with anomalies in ice cover has been one of the strongest drivers of population trends. Given climate projections of warmer water and declining ice, the authors expect high levels of environmentally driven pup mortality to continue. The study traces how major influences on population change shifted over time in this Northwest Atlantic population.
IUCN Red List · Near Threatened (NT) · Global
In the 2025 IUCN Red List update, the harp seal moved from Least Concern (LC) to Near Threatened (NT). IUCN identifies warming-driven sea-ice loss as the main threat to Arctic seals and notes that they use sea ice for breeding and raising pups, moulting, resting, and reaching foraging areas. Shipping, noise, oil and mineral exploitation, hunting, and fisheries bycatch add further pressure.