Seal Seen Lounging On Docks At Atlantic Highlands Marina

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — The chief of the Atlantic Highlands police department snapped this photo of a seal resting at the municipal marina in Atlantic Highlands Sunday night.

"I have been seeing a single seal on the same dock off and on for the past two months," said Police Chief David Rossbach. "I am assuming it’s the same seal as it’s always alone and always at the same dock!"

Rossbach said in his 54 years of living in Atlantic Highlands, he's never seen a seal anywhere near the municipal marina until this year.

"I cannot recall a single seal like this one hanging around the harbor," said Rossbach. "Across the bay at Sandy Hook, I've seen dozens of seals together, hanging out on the rocks near Officers' Row."

As Patch reported earlier this winter, more seals than ever are returning to their winter fishing grounds off the Jersey Shore, now that the water around New York City is cleaner than it's been in decades.

On Jan. 18, a local group called Save Coastal Wildlife recorded approximately 109 seals in and around Sandy Hook Bay when they did their annual seal count. Most were harbor seals, but at least two grey seals were spotted. And that's just at Sandy Hook: Additional seals have been spotted this winter up and down the Jersey Shore, from the Wildwoods to Long Branch.

The seals you are seeing along the Jersey Shore are teenagers: They were born in the summer in the much colder waters off Nova Scotia, Maine and Massachusetts, and they migrate south to New Jersey every winter to feed and fatten up.

Seals have lived off the coast of New Jersey for many years, but their population is steadily increasing every year, according to Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine. The Clean Water Act is widely credited with improving the water quality of the rivers, bays and tributaries that flow into the ocean around New York City.

Seals sleep on land during the day and hunt at night. Sandbars and docks, and even beaches, are places for them to rest, relax, digest food and enjoy sunshine.

"They are on the beach or docks to rest! These youngsters are only a few months old, and they just did a marathon swim from up north," said Sheila Dean, a manager at the Marine Mammals Stranding Center, in a Facebook post shared by the National Park Service. "So please stay 150 feet back and let them rest."

"He/she definitely did not like any attention directed at it," said Chief Rossbach of his Sunday night seal. "I have been told that it's best to keep your distance from the seals."

Keep reading about seals along the Jersey Shore:

Group Counts 109 Seals In Sandy Hook Bay

Seals Are Back Along The Jersey Shore