Study Looks at Gray Seal Impact on Beach Water Quality FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Relations Office December 18, 2012
Scientists from the newly created Northwest Atlantic Seal
Research Consortium (NASRC) are using data collected by the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) to investigate
whether seals may impact beach water quality along Outer Cape
Cod. A growing population of gray seals has been cited as the
reason for beach closures due to poor water quality on the outer
Cape. But is there evidence to support these water quality
statements? “We took some basic steps to assess whether there is
cause for concern,” said Rebecca J. Gast, an associate scientist
at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and member of
the NASRC. “As far as I know, no one has looked at the data to
ask these questions before.” The precise number of gray seals in
the area is not known; however, over the last 30 years, in areas
where there were once a few hundred, there are now several
thousand. There are three sit