The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.
Many of the dead seals that washed ashore in northern New England in the past few weeks tested positive for either avian influenza or phocine distemper virus, but it is still too soon to say if those viruses are the primary causes of the unusual die-off.
Preliminary results suggest that avian flu and/or phocine distemper virus may be contributing to the elevated seal strandings in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts since June 1, 2018.
The smelly carcass, identified as that of an adult male minke whale, is the second large marine animal to turn up on shore in southern Maine in the past week.
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