But tags put on in Denmark Strait have been returned from Newfoundland, which confirms the relationship of these two areas of hooded seal distribution. In March 1984 a major research program was mounted by Canadian and Danish researchers on hooded seals. Aircraft were chartered to census whelping patches of hooded seals in the Gulf, on the Front, and in Davis Strait. For this a special Greenlandic permit was obtained, since the whelping patch in Davis Strait is protected from sealing. Results, now being worked up, will greatly increase our knowledge of hooded seal numbers and biology.
Hooded seals show a great tendency to wander.
After they leave the pack ice in spring most young animals move north, but animals in their first summer frequently remain in the Gulf or estuary of the St. Lawrence, and may move up river as far as Quebec, Montreal, and even to the locks at Ste. Anne de Bellevue which lead to the Ottawa River. A few individuals wander south, having reached as far as Cape Canaveral, Florida, and in Europe as far south as Portugal. Although hooded seals are much scarcer than harp seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, their wandering behaviour is much more pronounced. Taking into account this wandering tencency together with the uniforn whelping season and a lack of evidence of stock discrimination shown from body and skull measurement, one could expect a good deal of mixing between different whelping groups of hooded seals.