Aerial surveys of Harbour seals in the entire Wadden Sea in 2007

Population age-composition returning to a stable age-structure?

Again in 2007 the surveys to monitor developments in the harbour seal Phoca vitulina population in the entire Wadden Sea were trilaterally co-ordinated and synchronously carried out according to the Seal mangement Plan. The nearly simultaneous surveys in the four subregions revealed the following results: the maximum number counted in the moulting period (August) was 4,159 in The Netherlands, 4,561 in Niedersachsen/Hamburg, 6,386 in Schleswig-Holstein, and 2,499 in Denmark. This brings the grand total to 17,605 harbour seals.

Authors:

Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG):
Peter J.H. Reijnders and Sophie M.J.M. Brasseur, IMARES, Texel, The Netherlands
Thomas Borchardt, National Park Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Ursula Siebert, FTZ-Büsum der Universität Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Michael Stede, LAVES Cuxhaven, Niedersachsen, Germany
Svend Tougaard, Fiskeri- og Søfartmuseet, Esbjerg, Denmark