Scientists use elephant seals to monitor ocean health effectively

In the pursuit of understanding ocean health, marine biologists at the University of California Santa Cruz have been employing northern elephant seals, utilizing advanced smart sensors. These seals can gather data from the ocean, especially from the mesopelagic zone, often referred to as the twilight zone, which ranges from 656 to 3,280 feet deep. This area is rich in fish resources that may soon face commercial exploitation. The research team, led by Roxanne Beltran, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, has been studying these seals to measure various environmental factors, such as water salinity and temperature, through their monitors. The seals have the unique advantage of periodically returning to land during the breeding season, which allows researchers to access them easily and gather extensive data. As the seals undertake long migrations with numerous foraging attempts, they provide valuable insights into an ecosystem that has remained largely untouched until now. This research is crucial as fisheries have begun to express interest in the deeper ocean layers as a potential resource. However, the technology to fish these regions remains impractical, meaning any potential threats to these ecosystems should be monitored. The elephant seals’ population nearly disappeared in the 1800s due to overexploitation. Fortunately, conservation efforts following the early 1900s allowed the population to recover, with current estimates around 350,000 across the coasts of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Continuous monitoring is essential to understand the long-term health of these marine environments, especially during a time when scientific attention is more crucial than ever.