As of: 11/01/2022 1:07 p.m
Significantly fewer seals were counted in the North Sea this year. The exact cause is still unclear. According to experts, one possibility is that the Wadden Sea has reached its capacity limit and food is therefore becoming scarce.
The number of seals living in the Wadden Sea has dropped significantly. During the annual count, a total of 23,652 seals were sighted in summer – the lowest number since 2011, according to the Joint Wadden Sea Secretariat in Wilhelmshaven.
In the animals observed during the change of coat, there was a decrease of twelve percent compared to the previous year, and the number of young animals fell by 22 percent. The data refer to the entire stock in the Wadden Sea of the North Sea, i.e. it includes Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
No clear conclusions possible
According to the experts, the exact reason for the falling numbers is unclear. The stock is possibly approaching the capacity limit of the Wadden Sea and is being constrained by limited resources such as food.
The counts support this, “but are well below the numbers that we would expect in such a scenario,” explained Anders Galatius, lead author of the report. Furthermore, no clear conclusions can be drawn from the observations of a single year.
Denmark was able to double its stock
Every year, the seals in the Wadden Sea and on Helgoland are counted with the help of aerial photographs. The surveys are made during the breeding season in June and the moulting season in August, when seals are more frequently seen on the sandbanks at low tide.
In June, 8,514 young animals were counted in the Wadden Sea – after 10,903 in the previous year. The numbers were declining in all parts of the Wadden Sea. During the annual moult in August, the number of seals recorded fell in almost all areas. Only in Denmark was a doubling of 106 percent observed.
development was known
The seal population in the Wadden Sea of the North Sea had only grown by about one percent a year since 2012. Last year, experts already predicted that the years of continuous increase in the population would come to a standstill.
Alongside gray seals, common seals are the largest marine predators in the Wadden Sea. The seals are protected by the Wadden Sea Seal Conservation Agreement.