Page "Crabeater seal" Paragraph 3

There are no current reliable estimates of the total crabeater seal population.

Past estimates relied on minimal opportunistic sighting and much speculation, ranging from 2 million to 50-75 million individuals.

The most recent point estimate is 7 million individuals but this, too, is considered a likely underestimate.

An international effort, the Antarctic Pack Ice Seal initiative ( APIS ), is currently underway to evaluate systematically collected survey data and obtain reliable estimates of all Antarctic seal abundances.