Today
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© Anne van Rijn
Since January, 38 seals have been brought into major Dutch shelters. That is a record number, considering there were only 40 in all of 2023. A lot of them are chokes. “That will also increase considerably this year,” says stranding coordinator Emmy Venema of the Pieterburen shelter.
The three Dutch shelters for seals in need, Pieterburen, A Seal and Ecomare, are increasingly seeing seals entangled in nets. There are also many seals that suffer from litter. The most heartbreaking case in recent months was a seal with a nylon thread wrapped around its neck and flipper. “We can often treat such a thread in the neck because there is a lot of fat there. It is not around the flipper. That is why we had to put this seal to sleep.”
Increase in entanglement of seals
This year, Pieterburen employees also saw seals entangled in a Frisbee, a plastic barrel lid, a potato bag and a T-shirt. The cause of the increase in entanglements is not entirely clear. This may be due to the amount of litter in the sea that is released from the seabed during stormy weather.
Other factors may also play a role, according to seal researcher Sophie Brasseur of Wageningen University. In recent years, the use of the North Sea for shipping and wind farms has increased significantly, leaving less space for the seal. The common seal in particular seems to be affected by this.
The seal population is declining due to trampling
Brasseur does not see indications of diseases among the seal population. These could also have an effect on a change in behavior in the population. “But we haven’t done proper research into that yet, so that still needs to be done.”
It is important to ensure that the seal population in the Netherlands does not simply decline. That could also have consequences for our ecosystem. “The seal is one of the largest predators,” says researcher Brasseur. “It eats all kinds of fish that would otherwise not be eaten. It also has no natural enemies. So they ensure balance in the system.”
