Grey seal
Grey seals are larger than harbour seals and can be recognized by their longer snout. They are also less shy and more curious. They are often spotted from the beach during the summer. Enormous numbers of grey seals live along the Scottish and Northern England shores. The fishermen there find them a threat to the salmon nurseries. Since 1980, the grey seal has also established itself in the wadden region, the first colony being on the sandbank Richel near Vlieland, the Netherlands and by Sylt in Germany.
The grey seal is on the Red List for protected mammals of the world conservation union IUCN.
Male adults reach a maximum length of 2.50 meters long and can weigh up to 350 kilograms. Adult females are smaller, up to 2.10 meters and weigh around 220 kilograms. Males have a more or less even black/brown fur while females are lighter grey or brown with large black spots.
Grey seals give birth during the middle of the winter. The juveniles possess a white, long hairy pelt and weigh 11 to 20 kilograms. They must remain a few weeks on land until they shed their furry coat and build up their fat reserves. That means finding a dry place for these few weeks. The Richel and Noorderhaaks, where the Dutch grey seals are born, only flood during spring tide and storm. However in some stormy winters, the young are washed off of the sandbanks and end up along the wadden coast. If they are found, they are often brought to the seal sanctuaries.
Distribution of the grey seal
In the North Sea, most of the grey seals live around the Scottish islands, along the British coast and in Cornwall. This population represents 40% of the world population of grey seals and 95% of the European population. There were around 30,000 grey seals in the whole of the North Sea in 1965. This number rose to 100,000 in 1988. In the beginning of the 21st century, the British population counted 124,300 animals. The population has grown particularly fast since the end of the 1970s, when an end came to giving licenses for commercial hunting.
Development of the Dutch grey seal stock
In early 2007, scientists counted 1565 grey seals in the Dutch wadden region. The number was slightly lower than in 2006. The most likely explanation is that a number of grey seals have migrated elsewhere, perhaps to the English coast or to Helgoland, where a new colony is starting to develop. In 2008, more grey seals were born: 1746.
The grey seal belongs to the original Dutch coastal fauna. Fossil finds have shown that long ago the grey seal was large. But during the Middle Ages, the grey seal stock was annihilated in the Wadden Sea by man. The return of the grey seal began around 1980. Because the grey seal received better protection in Great Britain, the population grew and the animals roamed to other parts of the North Sea and Wadden Sea. Grey seals are very mobile. Seals provided with transmittors have shown that those living in the Wadden Sea will swim all the way to Scotland.
The grey seal is in a definite minority in the Wadden Sea, compared to the harbour seal. The Netherlands has two colonies located on both sides of the channel between Terschelling and Vlieland. Since around the year 2000, a group of around 50 grey seals are also found on the sandbank Noorderhaaks, located west of Texel. Every once in a while, a grey seal is seen in the coastal area of Zeeland. Every once in awhile, the grey seal will also be seen in fresh water, as in December 2005 in the Heegermeer in Friesland.
The amount of animals counted in Dutch waters is continually increasing. In 1980, there were practically no grey seals, while in 1992 the numbers had risen to 150. More than 1000 adult animals were counted in 2003 while 1565 grey seals were counted in the Dutch wadden region in 2007. Because grey seals swim have a tendency to swim long distances, it is not easy to estimate how many are actually found in Dutch waters, as opposed to the harbour seal where 30% is added to the counted amount.
Development of the German population
The oldest colony of grey seals in Germany lives in the wadden region, on a sandbank west of Amrum. This colony had 150 to 200 animals in 2005.
In 2001, the first grey seal pups were born on the sandbank Düne near Helgoland. This was the start of a new colony, which had grown to around 70 adults in 2007.
Since 2005, a new group of grey seals is living on the Kachelotplatte in the Niedersachsen part of the German Wadden Sea. Ninteen pups were born that year.
The future for the grey seal in the Wadden Sea remains uncertain, one reason being the changeable character of the sandbanks in the Wadden Sea upon which they have been breeding their young since 1985. For the meantime, it looks like they have found a secure spot on the couple of sandbanks in the western section of the wadden region, and that one can speak of a viable stock. However, the most important habitats still remain the waters around the Scottish islands and the British east coast
Flight elevations instead of massive rehabilitation
The growing populations of grey seals in the Dutch Wadden Sea are producing more and more young. During high tida and storm, these young animals wash off of the sandbanks where they lie and end up in sanctuaries. Seal Sanctuary Lenie 't Hart in Pieterburen could hardly keep up with the stream of young seals that were washed away during the winter of 2006-2007 and had to build emergency accomodations. They used this situation to plead for a large-scale expansion of the sanctuary. Ecomare had a different plan: solve the problem at the source. Due to the need for undisturbed rest areas, grey seals bring up their young on deserted sandbanks. The higher lying coasts in the wadden region, which are safer during storms, are often disturbed too often by humans. Simple regulations, such as placing screens of reed branches, could help the sandbanks to grow higher. In that way, they would serve the grey seals better during storms.
Pups born earlier
Grey seals in the Wadden Sea are giving birth to their young at earlier dates than they used to in the winter, as shown during airplane counts in 2006 by IMARES. This could be due to a growining population, with more older speciment which birth earlier in the season. It could also be an effect of climate change, but much more research is necessary to establish this fact.
Reservation on the Orkneys
The islands Faray and Holm of Faray, both belonging to the Orkney Archipelago in the northern part of the North Sea, have been designated as special protection zones in 2006, in conjunction with the European Habitat Guidelines. Large grey seal colonies live on these islands, and produce many young.
On 1 August 1999, the Scottish Wildlife Trust purchased the uninhabited island Linga Holm. The island, with its surface area of 56 hectares, is a home for a large colony of grey seals. The organisation is planning on lobbying the authorities to obtain protective status for the island.
Names:
Dut: Grijze zeehond (kegelrob)
Eng: Grey seal
Fren: phoque gris
Ger: Kegelrobbe (Grauer Seehund)
Lat: Halichoerus grypus
Dan: Grisælen
Nor: Havert, Grisel
Source: de Vleet, Ecomare
