Marine

Where are the seals around the UK?

December 21, 2017 by Marine Scotland Communications No Comments | Category Collaborations, Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science, Marine Renewables, Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science report series

Today, Marine Scotland published a new report in the Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science series on research commissioned from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) to produce updated maps of grey and harbour seal distribution in UK waters.

Using a combination of telemetry data from seal tags between 1991 and 2016, and haul out counts of seals from aerial surveys between 1996 and 2015, these updated maps provide estimates of at-sea distribution of both grey and harbour seals at a spatial resolution of 5km x 5km.

The maps, funded by Scottish Government under the existing Marine Mammal Scientific Support Research Programme, will be useful for marine renewable developments, as well as for other marine spatial planning applications.

Further Information

• Read the report and access the data
• Read a previous blog on fine scale seal mapping around Orkney

Tags: grey seal, harbour seal, renewables

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