Food habits of harp seals (Phoca groenlandica) during lactation and moult in March-May in the southern Barents Sea and White Sea

In 1989-1993, data were collected from the Barents Sea stock of harp seals (Phoca groenlandica) sampled in the period from lactation to the middle of the moulting season (March-May). Lactating harp seals sampled in the White Sea in early March appeared to have been feeding moderately, mainly on crustaceans. Seals sampled in late March and early April in the south-western parts of the Barents Sea (Varangerfjord, north Norway) appeared to have been feeding more intensively, and almost exclusively, on capelin (Mallotus villosus). The diet of moulting harp seals taken in mid-April in the commercial hunting grounds north of the White Sea (the East Ice) consisted of prawns (Pandalus borealis), capelin cod (Gadus morhua), saithe (Pollachius virens), sculpins (Cottidae), snailfish (Liparidae) and long rough dab (Hippoglossoides plattessoides). In the White Sea in April-May, moulting harp seals ha-been feeding mainly on crustaceans, sandeels (Ammodytes spp.), capelin and White Sea herring (Clupea harengus marisalbi). Feeding of moulting seals in the East Ice and in the White Sea area appeared to have been less intensive than further west.