Harbor seal diet data from the Olympic Peninsula, WA 2020-2021

In this submission, we share data collected on harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) from the Olympic Peninsula in northwest Washington from 2020-2021. Our primary objectives were to characterize the diets of harbor seals in the winter and spring to determine their consumption on Pacific salmon (Onchorhynchus sp.) and other important fisheries species. To determine diet we collected scat samples between December 2020 and May 2021 from 7 harbor seal haulout sites in two regions: four along the northwestern coast of the Olympic Peninsula (hereafter Pacific coast) and three along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We used traditional hard parts identification, DNA metabarcoding, and qPCR to describe the diet and determine the sex of the seals. Despite our low sample size and narrow collection time frame, we found differences in prey species consumed between regions and sexes. A manuscript of our results has been submitted to Northwestern Naturalist in November 2022.