scholarly journals The status of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in the United Kingdom

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Thompson ◽  
Callan Duck ◽  
Mike E Lonergan
Keyword(s):  
Survey Methods ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Rocky Shores ◽  
The North ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
General Decline ◽  
Seal Population ◽  
The Status ◽  
Thermal Imagers ◽  
The Uk

The UK holds approximately 40% of the European harbour seal population, with the majority found around the coasts of Scotland. Harbour seal populations in the UK have been monitored through a series of repeated aerial surveys of animals hauled out during the annual moult in early August. This moult count is used as a consistent index of population size. Survey methods and frequencies vary. The Scottish and English east coast populations mainly haul out in tidal estuariesand are surveyed annually, using fixed wing aircraft and digital photography. Populations in north and west Scotland often haul out on rocky shores and are surveyed less frequently, using helicopters fitted with thermal imagers. Overall, the most recent minimum estimate of the UK harbour seal population is 24,250 seals of which 19,800 are in Scotland, 3,200 in England and 1,250 in Northern Ireland. The results show that the number of harbour seals in eastern Englandwas increasing before the 1988 and 2002 phocine distemper (PDV) epizootic but has not increased since the end of the 2002 epizootic. There is also evidence of a general decline in most of the large harbour seal colonies around Scotland. The populations along the north and northwest mainland coast were an exception, with numbers appearing to be stable. Between 2001 and 2008, the population in Orkney declined by 67% and Shetland declined by 40%, indicating harbourseals in these areas experienced substantially increased mortality or very low recruitment over this period. The widespread declines, ranging from Shetland to The Wash, suggest that the causes may have been present over a large part of the North Sea and waters off western Scotland.

scholarly journals The status of grey seals in Britain

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
C D Duck ◽  
D Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Total Population ◽  
Grey Seal ◽  
The North ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Seal Population ◽  
The Status ◽  
Outer Hebrides ◽  
Likelihood Model ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Uk

Grey seal pup production in Scotland was estimated through annual aerial surveys of the main grey seal breeding colonies. Between 3 and 7 counts of pups were obtained for each colony at intervals through the course of the breeding season. Pup production for individual colonies was estimated from the series of counts using a maximum likelihood model. At 3 colonies, 2 in England, annual pup production was estimated using ground counts. Between the early 1960s and the early 1990s, grey seal pup production progressively increased. At colonies in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, production appeared to stabilize during the 1990s and has remained so. Pup production at colonies in Orkney and in the North Sea has continued to increase but in recent years the rate of increase has declined. This may imply that the UK grey seal population is reaching some limit to its size. The observed changes in pup production imply that some density dependent factors are affecting the British grey seal population. Changes in either juvenile survival and/or female fecundity are the most likely options. Without knowing which of these, or what combination of these factors, is operating, estimating total population size is complicated.

scholarly journals The status of the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) in Ireland

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Michelle A Cronin
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Population Estimate ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Seal Population ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Management Priorities

The status of Ireland’s harbour seal population and its relationship with that of Britain and Western Europe are poorly understood. Prior to 2003, limited research efforts and poor co-ordination of survey methods fell short at providing an accurate assessment of overall distribution and population size on a regional or national scale. However, in August 2003, the Republic of Ireland’s harbour seal population was assessed by means of a geographically extensive survey conducted during the annual moult, providing an up-to-date minimum population estimate and a reliable baseline for future surveys. Trends on a national scale could not be assessed due to absence of a reliable historic population estimate; however there is some evidence of local decreases and increases in harbour seal numbers in Northern Ireland and southwest Ireland respectively. Research effort to date on aspects of the ecology of the harbour seal in the Republic of Ireland is reviewed and current research and management priorities highlighted.

scholarly journals Vulnerability of harbour seals, Phoca vitulina, to transient industrial activities in the Strait of Dover

2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 1015-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent J.J. Seuront ◽  
Perrine Prinzivalli
Keyword(s):  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Industrial Wastewater ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Industrial Activities ◽  
Dramatic Decline ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
Seal Population ◽  
Number Of Individuals

The abundance of the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) was recorded on a tidal bar in the Dover Strait off Calais, over a six-year period between 1999 and 2004. Despite clear seasonal and interannual variability in the number of individuals hauled out on the bar, underwater activities devoted to the installation of industrial wastewater pipes conducted during seven weeks 1 km away from the bar led to a dramatic decline in the number of seals hauling out. A full 19 months after the end of the operations the harbour seal population had not recovered their initial abundance. The results of this study have critical consequences on the conservation of P. vitulina in areas impacted by anthropogenic activities.

scholarly journals Introduction: The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) - a global perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Bjørge ◽  
Geneviève Desportes ◽  
Gordon T Waring ◽  
Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
The North ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Baltic

Introduction to Volume 8: Harbour seals in the North Atlantic and the Baltic 

scholarly journals PARTICIPATION: HOUSING AND URBAN VIABILITY

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Miles
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Lower Cost ◽  
New South ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
The Status ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Uk

In the global North, housing tends to be seen as a sub-sector of the construction industry. In the global South, in contrast, it might be considered more as a verb – housing as the activity of meeting basic needs for shelter. As such, this process is frequently undertaken by users themselves, in the informal settlements which surround most cities. While these settlements were once regarded as a threat to the urban order (or urbanization), today there is increasing recognition that self-build and self-managed housing meets the needs of urban development in ways which are usually more sustainable as well as lower-cost than standard housing schemes (whether in the public or the private sector). This paper begins from the question as to how far the lessons of informal settlements in the South can be applied in the North. It looks at the status of informal settlements in the new South Africa, and at two schemes in the UK: the Coin Street development in London, managed by tenants; and Ashley Vale self-build housing in Bristol, in southwest England. These are not seen as exemplary but simply two cases which can be compared and contrasted in the terrain of new approaches to building cities for the future.

Distribution of Eurasian otter biliary parasites, Pseudamphistomum truncatum and Metorchis albidus (Family Opisthorchiidae), in England and Wales

Parasitology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 136 (9) ◽  
pp. 1015-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. SHERRARD-SMITH ◽  
J. CABLE ◽  
E. A. CHADWICK
Keyword(s):  
Gall Bladder ◽  
Biliary System ◽  
Lutra Lutra ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Eurasian Otter ◽  
The North ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk

SUMMARYGall bladders from 273 otter carcasses, collected throughout England and Wales, were screened to assess the status of gall bladder parasites in the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra. The digenean Pseudamphistomum truncatum had previously been found in UK otters collected between 2000 and 2007. The parasite was established in Somerset and Dorset but its distribution elsewhere in the UK was largely unknown. In the current study, P. truncatum was also found to be abundant in south Wales, with occasional cases elsewhere, but appears to be absent from the north of England. Overall, 11·7% of otters were infected with 1–238 P. truncatum. A second digenean, Metorchis albidus, previously unreported in British otters, was found in the biliary system of 6·6% of otters. M. albidus appears well established in Suffolk, Norfolk and north Essex but was recorded elsewhere rarely. Both parasites are associated with pathological damage to the otter gall bladder. The recent discovery of these two non-native parasites provides a unique opportunity to assess their impact on native British fauna.

scholarly journals The status of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) in the UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (S1) ◽  
pp. 40-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Thompson ◽  
Callan D. Duck ◽  
Chris D. Morris ◽  
Debbie J. F. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals Moulting phenology of the harbour seal in south-west Ireland

2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 1079-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cronin ◽  
S. Gregory ◽  
E. Rogan
Keyword(s):  
Species Range ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Optimal Timing ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
Moult Period ◽  
The Republic

Studies on the phenology of harbour seal moult have been carried out in the Atlantic and Pacific, however there has been no research into this process in the Republic of Ireland, at the southern edge of the species range in the north-east Atlantic. Population estimates of harbour seals are derived by counts primarily during the moulting seasons. In the absence of information on the moult phenology planning the optimal timing of such surveys is impossible. Furthermore, changes in moult phenology may reflect changes in resource availability or competition, or demographic changes. The phenology of the harbour seal moult was investigated in south-west Ireland in this study. Timing of the moult differed among all cohorts, yearlings began moulting first followed by adult females and finally adult males. The number of seals hauled out was generally positively related to the proportion of seals in active moult. The timing of the moult period was different to other parts of the species' range and should be considered in determining optimal timing of future surveys for assessing populations abundance and trends in Ireland.

Variation in harbour seal counts obtained using aerial surveys

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (8) ◽  
pp. 1659-1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Cunningham ◽  
John M. Baxter ◽  
Ian L. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Aerial Survey ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Survey Period ◽  
North West ◽  
Aerial Surveys ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Post Hoc

Aerial surveys of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are usually carried out to provide an index of population size. This can be normalized, either by design or by post-hoc analysis to reduce the effects that date, time of day, tide and weather might have on the number of seals counted. In order for long-term trends to be determined from these counts it is assumed that the mean number of seals at a particular site does not vary during the survey period, and that the start and duration of the survey window does not vary with location or between years. This study used a combination of repeat land-based and aerial surveys to test the assumption for constancy of counts during the survey period. The study focused on harbour seal abundance at haul-out sites around the Isle of Skye in north-west Scotland. The coefficient of variation in these counts was estimated to be 15%, based on repeat aerial surveys using thermal imaging. Land-based counts were used to examine the effect of covariates on seal numbers using generalized additive modelling. This site-specific model predicted that the current aerial survey window for harbour seals in the UK, which is a three-week period during the moult, is about a week too early and that count variation could be reduced by surveying 1 1/2 hours earlier in the tidal cycle. Furthermore, the pupping period showed even higher (though more variable) abundance of hauled out seals than during the moult.

scholarly journals Status of the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) in Southern Scandinavia

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Tange Olsen ◽  
Signe May Andersen ◽  
Jonas Teilmann ◽  
Rune Dietz ◽  
Susi Manuela Clermont Edrén ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
Seal Population ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Original Size ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Long Term Survey

The harbour seal population in Southern Scandinavia has experienced repeated declines caused by hunting and epizootics. These events have shaped the current distribution and abundance of the population. This paper assesses the current status of the population. We estimate trends in abundance of harbour seals from long term survey data, compare these with historic trends inferred from previously published material, and discuss past and potential threats to the harbour seal population of Southern Scandinavia. It is evident that harbour seals have disappeared from haulout areas along the Danish shores of Kattegat and in the westernmost part of the Baltic Sea, where they were previously numerous. In the 1920-30s, when abundance was at its lowest, the population is estimated to have been only a fraction of its original size. Following 30 years of protection the population is currently approaching historic abundance and might have reached the carrying capacity in some areas. Further development depends largely on effects of future epizootics, anthropogenic disturbance, and availability of suitable haulout sites.

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