The fish are running out, the herring and the baltic herring are threatened and the cod is almost completely gone. When there is a competition for the little fish left, many people want to blame the seal. Both that it eats too much of “our” fish and that it destroys our fishing gear. But how is it really? Does the seal eat more than we do, and what does it actually eat? We asked some seal researchers.
When the seal population had collapsed around 1980 and was almost completely extinct, the authorities put an end to all hunting. Seal protection areas were established, and all three species found along our coasts were protected. At the same time, we received EU directives to reduce emissions of DDT and PCBs. It led to the recovery of all three seal tribes.
The government makes it possible to introduce licence hunting for both grey seals and humpback seals. "This is about protecting fish stocks and coastal fishing," says Minister for Rural Affairs Anna-Caren Sätherberg
I have been invited to accompany Anja Carlsson and Markus Ahola of the Swedish Museum of Natural History on their annual seal pup survey. When we spot the distinctive white of newborn seals we fly in closer, Markus photographs, Anja records coordinates and observations and I film. The still images are a resource that will enable the researchers to count the number of seal pups born this year and to analyse their distribution
