Polar Ecosystems Program research projects focus primarily on abundance, trends, distribution, health and condition, and foraging behavior of phocids (harbor, bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals) in Alaska. This database represents data associated with live captures and specimen collection of all these species across a variety of research projects. Data include information such as capture date, location, time, and handling time, as well as information about each animal (e.g., age, sex, molt, pregnancy status, pelage type). These data are most useful when combined in a relational manner with other datasets (e.g. telemetry, health and disease, morphometrics).