New England · 2000—2026
Grey and harbour seals
Seals around New England.
Follow public seal observations from New England. Browse published records, explore the places and stories behind them, or share an encounter with the Seal Watch team.
- Total reports
- 443
- Latest observation
Public reports · newest first
Public records archive
2 October 2000—20 September 2026
Follow updates
Receive alerts for new public reports. Lock-screen alerts show only a broad area in New England.
Checking notification support on this device…
8 of 443 reports
Loading public records…
Public records could not be loaded. Check your connection and try again.
Explore by place
All placesMarkers group reports by reviewed names in their public locations, not exact sighting positions. Circle size reflects report counts. Select a place to filter the archive.
350 of 443 reports mapped · 19 places
New England Six-state outline
Reported places Detail of outlined region
Mapped places North to south
- Eastern Maine12 reports
- Bangor Waterfront1 report
- Downeast Maine / Acadia51 reports
- Midcoast Maine41 reports
- Casco Bay / Portland16 reports
- Southern Maine13 reports
- Seacoast / Isles of Shoals6 reports
- Massachusetts North Shore30 reports
- Boston Harbor / Charles River13 reports
- Holyoke / Connecticut River1 report
- Outer Cape Cod40 reports
- Plymouth / South Shore12 reports
- Lower Cape Cod47 reports
- Mid Cape Cod6 reports
- South Cape / Buzzards Bay17 reports
- Rhode Island coast17 reports
- Martha's Vineyard4 reports
- Connecticut coast15 reports
- Nantucket8 reports
Places without a map point · 93 reports
Broad or unreviewed public locations remain available in the archive.
- Barnstable County10 reports
- Barnstable County waters1 report
- Barnstable County, Massachusetts3 reports
- Brothers Island4 reports
- Bunker Ledge1 report
- Cape Cod3 reports
- Cape Cod / Barnstable1 report
- Cape Cod National Seashore1 report
- Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts1 report
- Cape Cod, Massachusetts1 report
- Hancock County2 reports
- Hancock County, Maine1 report
- Jeffreys Ledge1 report
- Knox County1 report
- Lincoln County2 reports
- Long Island1 report
- Maine coast3 reports
- Maine coastal island, public place only1 report
- Massachusetts coast1 report
- Massachusetts coastal waters1 report
- New England44 reports
- New Hampshire coast, exact site unspecified1 report
- Newport County1 report
- Plymouth County1 report
- Sagadahoc1 report
- Southeastern Stellwagen Bank area1 report
- Washington County1 report
- Washington County, Maine1 report
- West Brother Island1 report
- York County1 report
Map: Natural Earth.
Reports over time
Select a year, then a month. Counts describe published reports; one animal may appear in several reports.
Grouped by each record’s archive date. Approximate dates keep their original labels in the records below.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified Carrie Drayton / Tyler O'Brien, reported by Beth Treffeisen, Boston.com
Observation: Witnesses described one seal being attacked just offshore and another seal coming ashore. Carrie Drayton recorded the encounter. The source describes two seals but does not identify their species; the shark's identification was subsequently assessed by Gregory Skomal.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified NOAA Fisheries — Ellie Heywood and Kimberly Murray
Observation: Researchers reported three grey-seal herds near Great Point Lighthouse. They sampled six pups and fitted three with satellite tags. The number sampled is not the total number observed.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified avaldez18 — iNaturalist
Observation: Photographic observation identified on iNaturalist as grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). The observer described a pup and a larger colony farther along the beach; no total animal count was supplied.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7692087
Observation: Three Grey Seal heads were photographed in the surf near Nantucket.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/296456703; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/296456704
Observation: A Grey Seal was photographed on a surf beach near Nantucket.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52669629
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. One decomposed seal carcass is on sand at an obscured Nantucket location. Current Harp Seal attribution is retained as probable; no cause of death is inferred and the displayed clock is omitted.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34462934
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist page and photograph reviewed. Two live harbor seals are side by side in shallow water; no observation clock time is preserved because the page time conflicts with the daylight photograph.
-
Date:Reported: Unidentified https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/261480034
Observation: Direct original iNaturalist observation reviewed. Source IDs: 261480034, 261480035. Two same-observer, same-date Muskeget Island observations; visible hauled-out seals in the original photographs.