Dozens of dead seals stranded on the coast of Alaska

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The agency said NOAA Fisheries was investigating reports of "exceptionally high numbers" of dead ice seals in the area. Ice seals bear this name as they live in the Arctic of Alaska. The species includes bearded, ringed and spotted seals.

NOAA has reported receiving several reports of dead seals in southwestern southwest Norton Sound, including a hunter who counted 18 seal carcasses along the coast and tens others on the coast of Stuart Island, Alaska.

A dead seal found on a beach near Kotzebue, Alaska.

NOAA Fisheries is working with its Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network partners to photograph and perform necropsies on animals, NOAA said in a press release.

Some of the dead seals would have lost hair, NOAA said. The agency has also received reports that seals are unusually thin this year, he added.

Further examination should be done to determine if hair loss is part of the decomposition or abnormal moulting.

Abnormal moult symptoms were present during the unusual 2011-2016 mortality event, which affected at least 657 ice seals in northern and western Alaska.

NOAA asks anyone who encounters a dead or sick seal to report it to the regional authorities.

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