Long Term Monitoring of Elephant Seals on the West Beach of Hopkins Marine Station

NOTE: an updated dataset including elephant seal counts has been posted at https://doi.org/10.25740/gk364tm7562.

Beginning in the early 1990’s individual elephant seals have been observed occasionally hauling out at the West Beach at Hopkins Marine Station. Since September 2003, John Pearse (University of California, Santa Cruz, Emeritus Professor) has been counting the number of elephant seals he observes on Hopkins Marine Station's West Beach. Initially the counts were made from the window of the Pearse residence positioned directly across the street from the beach which meant some of the beach was not visible. On July 27, 2008 John walked across the street to the fence along the recreational trail where the entire beach can be viewed. He did this sporadically until August 13, 2008 after which all the counts were made from the fence where the whole beach could be seen. Time is presented using a 24-hour clock. Time of day for the count is haphazardly chosen. Counts extend from September 2003 through July 2009.