Скачать или смотреть Tracking Seals to Improve Cross-Border Conservation Strategies - Sea Monitor Project

Seals are a protected species in the UK and Europe, but in certain regions, harbour seal populations are declining.

Part of the much-needed conservation effort is focused on rehabilitating abandoned or stranded seal pups for release back into the wild.

The €4.7m, INTERREG VA funded, Sea Monitor project is using the latest technology to track rehabilitated seals and better understand their behaviour so as to improve conservation strategies, on a cross-border basis.

Since November 2019, the project has tracked five rehabilitated common seal pups, post-release.

The tracked seal pups were rescued from beaches in Northern Ireland and cared for by the team at the Exploris Aquarium until healthy enough to be released.

The tags transmit data back to researchers via the mobile phone network and the tracking data has shown some of the seals travelling across the Irish Sea to England and Wales, much farther than expected.

One seal, affectionately named after the Disney mermaid Ariel, travelled to Scotland and then on to north Wales, where she spent most of her time feeding within an offshore windfarm. The exclusion of fishing vessels from windfarms likely results in increased fish abundances for the seals to feed on.

The Sea Monitor project plans to track a further 10 rehabilitated seals in the coming year.