Biology > northern fur seal > Distribution

Distribution of Northern Fur Seals

Major northern fur seal rookery locations are indicated in red above

Northern fur seals range from southern California to central Japan, but most of the worldwide population breeds on islands in the Bering Sea. There are six major breeding islands and several smaller ones: Kuril Islands, Robben Island, Commander Islands (Bering and Medny), Pribilof Islands (St. Paul and St. George), Bogoslof Island and San Miguel Island. More than 70% of the worldwide population breeds and pups on the Pribilof Islands in the eastern Bering Sea.

Fur seals are strictly pelagic during winter (November to June) and only return to land to breed and nurse their pups during the summer months. Herds of northern fur seals, mostly females and juveniles, winter in open ocean across the North Pacific and migrate in spring to breeding islands in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. Adult males do not migrate, but may disperse in the Bering Sea, into the Gulf of Alaska or waters off the coast of Japan.