ANP
In collaboration with
Omrop Fryslan
News from the NOS•
There are fewer and fewer seals swimming in the Wadden Sea. This was stated in a report by the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation, a collaboration of Danish, German and Dutch researchers.
The organization carries out an extensive seal count every year. The decline has been going on for a few years, but this year it’s going faster than researchers thought, he writes Omrop Fryslan.
Last June, 8,514 pups were counted in the Wadden Sea. A year ago there were 10,903. The figures refer to the entire Wadden Sea, i.e. the water between Texel and Denmark.
Speculate on the cause
Researchers don’t know why there are fewer seals. There may not be enough food. “Puppies in particular should suffer from it,” says researcher Anders Galatius. “This should cause more cubs to die, which in turn affects the general population.”
This year’s data fits that development, says Galatius, but is significantly lower than expected.
Even at the University of Wageningen they are concerned about the seal population in the Wadden Sea. “We started counting when things got really bad. There were very few seals left after the hunt. After that we saw continued growth, but now there is such a large decrease. In the meantime, there have been two virus outbreaks,” but now something else is happening, “Sophie Brasseur told the regional broadcaster.
‘Do your research’
Brasseur doesn’t have a conclusive explanation of why things are going so badly. “A lot of changes are happening at sea. Not only climate change, but we also use the North Sea a lot more. The cause could be anything, but at least the pups are not able to survive long enough. If we keep it up, they won’t. we will withhold anything “.
No research is in progress at the moment, because there is no money for it. “We will continue to support it. It has to be funded.”
