ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed

PETITIONED: 2007

RANGE: The Sea of Okhotsk, northern Sea of Japan, Bering Sea, eastern Chukchi Sea, and western Beaufort Sea

THREATS: Loss and degradation of sea-ice habitat caused by global warming, oil and gas development, shipping activity, pollution, hunting, bycatch mortality, and competition with fisheries for prey

POPULATION TREND: The current population status of ribbon seal populations is unknown because recent censuses have not been conduced. In its most recent 2007 draft stock assessment, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported a global population size of 240,000 individuals, with an estimate of 90,000 to 100,000 ribbon seals in the Bering Sea.