Threatened Guadalupe fur seals are finding their way into the Salish Sea

Guadalupe fur seals breed primarily on Guadalupe Island in Mexico but are also found along the U.S. West Coast and as far north as British Columbia. They were thought to be extinct due to hunting until a remnant breeding population was discovered on Guadalupe Island in 1954.

Since that time, protections by the Mexican and U.S. governments and other recovery efforts have led to a re-expansion of the seal’s range, including sightings along the Washington coast and a few occurrences in the Salish Sea. The seals are currently considered threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Most documented Guadalupe seal sightings in the Pacific Northwest have been due to strandings, especially during two unusual mortality events in the 2000s. From 2005 through 2024, there were approximately 500 Guadalupe fur seal strandings documented in Washington and Oregon, including 168 in Washington — averaging about eight strandings per year in the state, according to the NOAA National Stranding Database in 2024.

Sightings in the Salish Sea are rarer, with two in Puget Sound and one farther north into Canada. Two of the three seals were rehabilitated and survived after being found entangled or stranded.

• On January 19, 2022, a young Guadalupe fur seal was found entangled in Jakles Lagoon at San Juan Island. It was wrapped in fishing netting and was rehabilitated and released.
• A yearling seal was found at Sekiu, Washington on March 6, 2016. The seal had been stranded and released once before in Northern California and was again stranded in Puget Sound. It was temporary held at the PAWS Wildlife Center in Lynnwood and transferred to The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) in California for further rehabilitation and later released.
• The Salish Sea’s first modern sighting of a Guadalupe fur seal was an adult found off the Indian Arm fjord in British Columbia on July 16, 2008.

As rare as sightings are in the Salish Sea, the seals are not new to the region. Guadalupe fur seals are among the most common pinnipeds found in archaeological middens in Neah Bay going back about 500 years. 

“Most people don’t even realize we have Guadalupe fur seals in Washington state,” said Dyanna Lambourn, a marine mammal biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “I think they are more abundant than many people think.” 

Misidentification likely contributes to the low number of confirmed sightings. One distinguishing feature is flipper fur. "On northern fur seals, the fur stops at the elbow, whereas on Guadalupe fur seals, it extends past the elbow," Lambourn said. “But even seasoned biologists can be fooled."

According to Lambourn, about 95% of the strandings of the seals in Washington and Oregon involve recently weaned pups or yearlings. "Strandings and sightings are most common from May to July, when the animals follow warm-water currents northward, although strandings have been documented in every month over the past 20 years," she wrote in an email.  

Lost and abandoned fishing nets are among the greatest entanglement hazards for seals and other sea creatures. Marine debris known as ‘ghost nets’, snare and kill an estimated 12 million animals each year in Puget Sound alone.