Northern Fur Seals breed at the Reef Point rookery on the island of St. Paul in the Bering Sea, Alaska. Photo by Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace

As we arrived to St George Island last Friday night, Greenpeace USA’s Alaskan Oceans Campaigner, George Pletnikoff, tipped us off to an experience that could not be missed.  George, who grew up on the island, told us about a cliff down the shore that is home to hundreds of thousands of birds: “When you get really close it’s like entering into a cathedral. It’s fantastic!”

Of course we wanted to bring you photos of the cliffs, but we also thought we could add an extra dimension. We wanted to bring you a little closer to this unique ecosystem.

So I teamed up with our photographer, Jiri Rezac, grabbed some audio recording gear, got in one of the Esperanza’s inflatable boats and was off. It was amazing, we couldn’t get enough.

So the next day we teamed up with Dave Thomas, a field worker from National Marine Fisheries Service who is stationed on the island. He took us to see the northern fur seals that amass on the island and explained all the different sounds the seals make.

We’ll be studying the Bering Sea over the next few days, including the impacts of factory trawling for fish on the people and wildlife on these islands and enormous underwater canyons. This type of industrial fishing hasn’t yet reached the Arctic, so we need to protect it while we still can.

Here is the result, so please sit back, make sure your audio is on, enable full screen and press play. Enjoy!