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Seals face an uncertain future with climate change altering ocean currents and prey availability while worsening storms and rising sea levels are affecting vital resting and breeding sites. Toxic pollutants continue to enter waterways and the ocean.
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Seals asphyxiate rather than drown, as their dive reflex...
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The Seal Protection Action Group (SPAG) is dedicated to...
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The UK is home to 38% of the entire world’s population of...
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A selection of helpful seal signage, reports and press...
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Common or harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are smaller and...
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A list of the collective member organisations that make The...
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Keep Your Distance – it may be tempting to try and get a...
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Oct 31, 2024 · The degradation of natural habitats poses a significant threat to seal populations, disrupting their breeding, resting, and foraging environments. Coastal development often leads to the destruction of haul-out sites where seals rest and nurse their young.
- Ocean noise. Often overlooked because it can’t be seen, ocean noise is a significant threat to a number of marine species. Animals like whales and dolphins that hunt and communicate using sound are severely impacted by excessive noise caused by shipping activity, military sonar, and seismic exploration by oil and gas industries.
- Vessel strikes. Another threat that is linked to shipping is vessel strikes on marine wildlife. These are exactly what they sound like—large vessels, such as shipping containers, collide with aquatic animals, usually whales.
- Climate change. The increase in global temperatures seen with climate change has—and continues to have—devastating effects on the ocean. Warming temperatures have led to coral bleaching, threatening an estimated 75% of the world’s reefs, while ocean acidification is having dire consequences for many marine species too.
- Entanglement in fishing gear. Marine animals—from whales, dolphins, and seals to turtles and seabirds—often become caught and trapped in nets and lines used by commercial fisheries.
The largest threats to seals are humans and the byproducts of our activity. Historically, hunters targeted seals for their fur and hunted several species to extinction. Today, seal hunting is much better regulated to help preserve seal populations.
Seals, like other marine mammals, rely entirely on seafood, they do not have the luxury of dietary choice as we do. By 2020, the UN aims to end overfishing and conserve at least 10% of all coastal and marine areas.
Dec 17, 2020 · While the total number of monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands appears to be slowly increasing, human-related lethal threats are hampering that growth. Human-caused trauma (physical injury, shooting, etc.), gillnet entanglement, and toxoplasmosis cause the most deaths.
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Sep 10, 2021 · The largest threat to many seal species, especially those that rely on sea ice, is climate change. For example, ringed seals build caves in the snow and create holes in the ice that give...