A. Distribution.
1. Harbor seals are found in temperate, subarctic, and arctic waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans.
2. P. v. mellonae is a landlocked subspecies found in Seal Lake, a freshwater lake in Quebec, Canada.
 P. v. stejnegeri |
 P.v. concolor |
 P. v. vitulina |
 P. v. richardsi |
 P. v. mellonae |
B. Habitat.
Harbor seals inhabit shallow areas of estuaries, rivers, and places where sandbars and beaches are uncovered at low tide.
C. Migration.
Harbor seals do not migrate regularly but will travel in search of feeding grounds.
D. Population.
Scientists estimate that the world harbor seal population currently is between 400,000 and 500,000 seals. For populations of specific subspecies, see the table below. This estimate does not include the largha seal—its population is about 400,000.
| subspecies | population (1981) | distribution |
| P. v. richardsi | to 200,000 | eastern Pacific from teh Pribilof Islands to Baja California, Mexico |
| P. v. stenjnegeri | 5,000 to 8,000 | western Pacific from the Bering Sea along the Kuril Islands to Hokkaido, Japan |
| P. v. vitulina | to 100,000 | northeastern Atlantic along the European coast from Finland to Portugal, and the coast of Iceland |
| P. v. concolor | 40,000 to 100,000 | western Atlantic from Greenland to the central United States |
| P. v. mellonae | 500 to 1,000 | Seal Lake, Quebec, Canada |
TABLE: harbor seal populations and distributions
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database
www.seaworld.org / www.buschgardens.org
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