ANNUAL DISTRIBUTION OF HOODED SEALS (CYSTOPHORA-CRISTATA) IN THE GREENLAND AND NORWEGIAN SEAS

Nineteen hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) were tagged with satellite -linked platform terminal transmitters (PTT) on the sea ice near Jan M ayen. Fifteen were instrumented after completion of the moult in July 1992 (five males, ten females, at 71 degrees N, 12 degrees W), and fou r during breeding in March 1993 (four females, at 69 degrees N, 20 deg rees W). Sixteen of the seals were tagged with Satellite-Linked Time-D epth-Recorders (SLTDR), yielding location, dive depth and dive duratio n data. The average (+/-SD) longevity of all PTTs was 199 +/- 84 days (n = 19; range: 43-340 days), and they yielded 12,834 location fixes. Between tagging in July 1992 and pupping in March 1993, two seals rema ined in or near the ice off the east coast of Greenland for most of th e tracking period. However, most of the seals made one or several trip s away from the ice edge, mostly to distant waters. These excursions h ad an aver age (+/- SD) duration of 47 +/- 22 days (n = 46; range: 4-9 9 days). Eight seals travelled to waters off the Faeroe Islands, three to the continental shelf break south of Bear Island, and three to the Irminger Sea southwest of Iceland. Eleven seals were tracked in the p eriod between breeding (March/April) and moulting (July). Several of t hese spent extended periods at sea west of the British Isles, or in th e Norwegian Sea.