Conclusion
The use of SealNet facial recognition software to identify individual
harbor seals has multiple future applications to aid in decision-making
for conservation efforts, including assessments of seal abundance,
evaluation of site fidelity within and across coastal regions,
determination of trends in migration patterns, and the exploration of
patterns in social behavior among harbor seals at haul-out sites. The
ease and wealth of data that can be collected with non-invasive
photography, coupled with the predictive ability of the SealNet to
identify individuals, provides researchers with a robust toolkit that
has the potential to transform ecological studies of wild populations of
harbor seals.