Keith Matassa quoted in Press Herald story on harbor seal research program
Keith Matassa, coordinator of 51°µÍø's Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center, was interviewed for a May 2, 2011 story on a group of scientists' efforts to catch and tag harbor seals for on on-going research project. The survey will help scientists determine how the population is faring and whether the number of seals unintentionally killed by humans, such as those caught in the nets of ground fishermen, are reaching unsustainable levels. Matassa said that the 51°µÍø center rehabilitated 125 harbor seals last year and already has six harbor pups born prematurely this spring. Normally the center has one or two a year, said Matassa, who helped in the capture effort off Rockland last week. "These seals tell us what is affecting them." The research is being conducted for the Woods Hole Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Massachusetts.