"Southeast Alaska's open Community Wildlife Interactions map. See something on the water? This is where you share it."
People on the water in Southeast Alaska see things researchers never will. A humpback feeding in Chatham Strait at dawn. Sea otters rafting in Sitka Sound. Orcas passing through Icy Strait. SEAK Spot is where those moments get recorded — by the people who were there.
Whether you're a charter captain, a kayaker, a ferry passenger, or just someone who happened to be there — if you saw something, this is where you share it.
Spotted a humpback in Chatham Strait? Sea otters in Sitka Sound? Log the species, location, and behavior in under two minutes. No account needed.
Every sighting gets pinned on a live map — building a real-time picture of wildlife activity across the region.
Every sighting is publicly visible on the map and available to download. Researchers, educators, and agencies can use it freely — but it belongs to the whole community first.
Tell us what you saw. Your sighting goes on the public map — species, location, behavior, date. Your name and contact info are always kept private.
Your sighting has been recorded. It'll appear on the map within 24 hours. Thank you for sharing what you saw.
If you saw something that concerned you — a vessel too close to wildlife, behavior that seemed off — you can document it here. Reports are always confidential, never displayed publicly, and never shared without your permission.
Your report has been recorded and will stay confidential. Thank you for documenting it.
What people on the water are seeing across Southeast Alaska. Species, location, and behavior — the SEAK Spot Community Wildlife Interactions record, open to everyone.
Southeast Alaska is one of the richest marine mammal corridors on Earth — humpback whales, orcas, Steller sea lions, harbor seals, Dall's porpoises, and sea otters move through these waters every day. But there's no coordinated, community-based effort to document what's happening out there.
SEAK Spot changes that. Every sighting you share — species, behavior, location, date — adds to an open record that builds a real picture of wildlife in the region. That record belongs to everyone: researchers, students, educators, tribal resource managers, federal agencies, journalists, and curious people who just want to know where the sea otters are.
You don't need to be a scientist. You don't need a permit. You just need to be on the water.
Federal and state regulations set minimum approach distances to protect marine mammals from vessel disturbance:
Many boaters — particularly visitors — don't know these rules exist. SEAK Spot data helps identify where violations are most common, giving enforcement agencies and educators the evidence they need to focus their efforts.
Every sighting on SEAK Spot is publicly visible and free to download. The CWI record includes species, count, behavior, location, and date. Researchers, students, agencies, and journalists can use it without fees, agreements, or approval. We built it for the community — if the data is useful to you, take it.
SEAK Spot is Southeast Alaska's open Community Wildlife Interactions (CWI) record — built by people who spend their working lives on the water, for anyone who does the same. Every sighting you share contributes to a growing CWI record for the region. You don't need a research permit or a science degree. You just need to have been there.
SEAK Spot is an independently operated, for-profit project — and we're upfront about what that means. We don't hide behind nonprofit language. We run lean, we move fast, and we don't answer to a board.
Revenue from SEAK Spot — through partnerships, data services, and optional supporter contributions — funds the platform's operation and development. We don't take a cut of your data. We don't sell your information. We don't restrict access to what the community builds together.
We believe the fastest way to protect Southeast Alaska's marine ecosystem is to put real data in the hands of the people who can use it. That's what SEAK Spot is for.
The full CWI record — species, location, behavior, count, and date — is publicly downloadable from the map page. No fees, no agreements, no gatekeeping.
Media inquiries, research partnerships, and data requests: press@seakspot.com
When you submit a sighting, the report routes to a secure database. A public tab containing only species, location, behavior, date, and animal count feeds the sighting map in near real-time. Your name and contact information stay in a private tab that only SEAK Spot administrators can access. Concern reports follow a separate, fully private pipeline — never published, never displayed on the map. Reporter identity on all concern reports is always confidential.
Photos shared by people on the water across Southeast Alaska. All photos are shared voluntarily with the photographer's permission.
SEAK Spot is built by the community, for the community. If you have an idea, spotted a bug, or think something could work better — we want to hear it. Every comment helps shape what this tool becomes.
Thank you — your input helps make SEAK Spot better for everyone on the water.