Save the Bay volunteers count nearly 600 seals along Rhode Island coastline

Seal population drops

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Photo by Will Collette

Volunteers for Save the Bay counted 22% fewer seals when conducting their annual census of the marine mammal along Rhode Island’s coastline in mid-March. A third of those counted were found on or around Block Island.

The nonprofit environmental advocacy group held its point-in-time count on Wednesday, March 18, when the high temperature reached into the mid-30s off Block Island and winds were between 5 to 10 mph. 

Counts are typically held in March because that’s when the peak number of harbor seals are seen in the Narragansett Bay before they migrate further north, Save the Bay spokesperson Juan Espinoza said. 

“They kind of thrive in spring,” Espinoza said in a phone interview.

Scientists and volunteers were out for two hours, tracking a total of 590 seals around the bay and Block Island from the water and on shore. In 2025, volunteers counted 755 seals around Rhode Island. 

Volunteers counted a record high of 603 seals around the bay in 2016. The lowest population count was 158 in 2014. Save the Bay did not hold a count in 2015 due to ice on the water or in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, volunteers counted  377 seals around Narragansett Bay and 213 seals in the waters around New Shoreham— 11 more than were seen on or off Block Island during the 2025 census. All but one of Block Island marine mammals were gray seals, which can be found in coastal waters year-round.

One harbor seal was spotted around Block Island, a sighting July Lewis, Save the Bay’s volunteer and internship manager, called “unusual” because there are usually many more. Volunteers last year counted 44 harbor seals around the island. Harbor seals are seen during the winter and spring months before they depart for northern New England and the Canadian Maritimes.

“This single day count is a snapshot and can be affected by weather conditions or just what the seals happened to be doing at that time of the count,” Lewis said in a statement. “Looking at our results over time, we can see that the seal population in the mainland area seems to be relatively stable.”

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