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Identical helicopter-supported surveys indicated a large decrease in the density of ringed seal birth lairs in Amundsen Gulf, N.W.T., between 1974 and 1975. A similar decrease was shown by ground surveys in the Prince Albert Sound area south of Holman. The factors stimulating the change in productivity in the area are not clear but the responses of the seals appear to have included lowered reproductive rates and movement of a significant portion of the population out of the area.
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Smith et al. (1978) studied this question.
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