The National Park Service recently captured the featured image of a pod of harbor seals resting at low tide on Green Island shoal, located just west of the Marc Basnight Bridge.
Harbor seals, known scientifically as Phoca vitulina, are one of the most common marine mammals along the U.S. West and East Coasts.
State-financed bounty hunters once hunted harbor seals in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Maine because they were considered competitors of fishermen. This hunting program ended in 1960. Harbor seals, like all marine mammals, are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
To learn more about harbor seals, visit www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/harbor-seal.