[CINC] Correction / Fresh Water Seals

[Paul Petrich]

Hello Again Ocean People,
 Gavin Hanke sent me this correction on the extent to which seals adapt to fresh water habitats. Also, the article on the salmon vs gold issue in Alaska published in last December's National Geographic was "Alaska'sChoice: Gold or Salmon", p. 100.  The mother load find by the Pebble Partnership includes huge deposits of copper and molybdenum ( an alloy hardener ), as well as possibly the world's largest deposit of gold. The open pit mine would be immense, as would the underground diggings. A big concern is the sulfur bearing ore by-product, an acid cocktail, that can kill fish and other organisms, and percolate into the intricate water table. Also, the dammed up mining trailings that will remain forever after the mining is done. 

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Hanke, Gavin RBCM:EX" <ghanke at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca>
Date: July 25, 2011 9:34:44 AM
To: 'Paul Petrich' <ppetrich39 at me.com>
Subject: Fresh Water Seals

Actually, those were only the sites I knew off the top of my head - there are many other places where seals enter freshwater on a regular basis now that I have a quick look on the internet. In addition, other marine mammals have exploited freshwater - there are several river dolphin species and manatees use freshwater too
 
Amazonian Manatee (Trichechus inunguis)
West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus)
West African Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis
Ganges and Indus River Dolphin, Platanista gangetica with two subspecies
Amazon River Dolphin (or Boto), Inia geoffrensis with three subspecies
La Plata Dolphin (or Franciscana), Pontoporia blainvillei
Baiji (or Chinese River Dolphin), †Lipotes vexillifer (functionally extinct, since December 2006)
 
Baikal Seal (Pusa sibirica)
Ringed Seal (Pusa hispida) - with subspecies such as Ladoga Seal and Saimaa Ringed Seal.
Harbour Seals enter estuaries in pursue of their prey, and colonies live in Iliamna Lake and the Seal River in Manitoba. There is also a Harbour Seal subspecies called the Ungava Seal in Lacs des Loups Marins, Petit Lac de Loups Marins, and Lac Bourdel in northern Quebec.
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