Published: December 2, 2024

By Mark Seth Lender

Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence, Mark Seth Lender reflects on the military history of Seal Island in the Main Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge.

That night reviewing my photographs, not far from where the horsehead seals were gathered I found conical fractures. Only one thing does this: bullets. By which I mean ballistic projectiles fired from a higher caliber weapon, not errant birdshot. Seal Island was a US Navy bombing and target range until sometime in the 1960’s. How birds and seals fared under enfilading fire is moot. But what removed the puffins in particular was being caught in unrestricted numbers by meat hunters using nets. When we say protection what we mean is, from us. Bullets and unexploded ordnance may well be preferable to the tread of human feet and what our hands can do.

When the puffins leave Seal Island for the winter, the Refuge staff resident on Seal Island also leaves. But not the seals. The cold months into the early spring when seals give birth, this is their time of peril. Without laws, specifically the Marine Mammal Protection Act which -- remarkably -- does create an element of restraint and most especially without the National Wildlife Refuge System to provide a degree of enforcement, here too we will proceed by leaps and bounds on the inexorable path to Extinction.

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Maine coastal wildlife guide, Captain John Drury can be reached through his website

Mark Seth Lender’s wildlife photography can be found here