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Proceedings Texel Symposium
November 2002:
"Management of North Sea and Grey Seal Populations" |
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The international
symposium on "Management of North Sea and Grey Seal
Populations", Texel, 29 - 30 November 2002 was organized by
the EcoMare, the Wadden and North Sea
Centre.
Several contributions are dealing with the epizootics 2002 and
1988 and possible consequences for the populations. Management
policies as well as the role of research, information, education
and seal rehabilitation were also discussed at the symposium.
Download:
Proceedings
[pdf, 2.9 MB]
Proceedings
title [pdf, 450 kb] |
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TSEG-plus
Report March/June 2001 |
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The report
"Evaluation of the status of the Common and Grey Seal
population in the Wadden Sea including an assessment whether the
Seal Management Plan needs to be revised and amended" was
prepared by the extended Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG-plus)
and submitted to the TWG/SO in March/June 2001.
On the basis of the
TSEG-plus Report a new Seal Management Plan was prepared and
adopted at the Governmental Conference in Esbjerg in October
2001.
Download:
TSEG-plus
Report (including Seal Management Plan) [pdf, 460 kb]
Title
[pdf, 350 kb] |
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SEAL
MANAGEMENT PLAN
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The Seal Agreement (see
below) contains provisions, amongst
others, on research and monitoring, taking, and protection of
habitats, which must be implemented in a Seal Management
Plan (SMP). Currently, the third Seal
Management Plan, valid for 2007-2010, is in operation. In accordance with the management plan, seal reserves
have been established in the whole Wadden Sea, which are closed
for all activities during the whelping and nursing period, basically
from May to September. Taking of seals is prohibited.
The first "Seal
Management Plan for the Wadden Sea Seal Population 1991-95"
was adopted at the 6th Trilateral Governmental Conference
on the Protection of the Wadden Sea in November 1991 (Esbjerg
Declaration).
The second Seal Management Plan,
valid for the period 2002-2006, was adopted at the Esbjerg
II Conference (October 31, 2001).
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| SEAL
AGREEMENT |
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The Seal Agreement
was enacted on October 1, 1991 as the first agreement, as defined
in Article 4, of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals (CMS, Bonn Convention). The Seal Agreement
was concluded between the countries adjacent to the Wadden Sea
- Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands - with the aim to cooperate
closely in achieving and maintaining a favorable conservation
status for the common seal population of the Wadden Sea. The
text of the Seal Agreement is available as pdf-
or via the website of the CMS
as html-file. It is also published in the Wadden Sea Newsletter
1996, No. 2. |
| Convention
on Migratory Species - Seal Agreement |
| Exhibition
September 2002 |
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| (Click
on the graphics to enlarge) |
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exhibiton panels as PDF [1.3 MB] or as
Powerpoint [2.1
MB] |
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| LEEUWARDEN
DECLARATION (LD)
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At the 7th
Trilateral Governmental Wadden Sea Conference in Leeuwarden in
1994, a common delimitation for the trilateral area of cooperation,
a set of common targets for the Wadden Sea ecosystem and decisions
concerning the conservation of seals and small cetaceans (LD
§§ 56 - 60) were adopted. Due to the LD, the amendment
of the Seal Management Plan has to be based on a comprehensive
evaluation of the still existing plan and should also include
the following aspects:
- the results of the trilateral Joint Seal Project (JSP), finalized
at the end of 1994;
- the principles and guidelines concerning taking of seals, rehabilitation
and releasing of seals, which are given in the LD;
- the principles and guidelines concerning taking of seals, rehabilitation
and releasing of seals, which are given under §60 LD, should
also apply to the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). |
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| Guidelines
Concerning Taking and Releasing of Seals (LD § 60) |
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The ministers at the Leeuwarden Conference reaffirmed that the
rehabilitation and release of seals is not necessary from the
biological and wildlife management point of view and that the
current level of taking, since the Seals Agreement has entered
into force, is too high to be justified. Therefore, the ministers
agreed to the following decisions:
LD § 60:
"To reduce the current number of seals taken from and released
to the Wadden Sea to the lowest level possible by applying guidelines
for handling diseased or weakened seals or evidently abandoned
pups, and to release seals based on the precautionary approach,
referred to under § 58 to be elaborated in the framework
of the Conservation and Management Plan for the Wadden Sea Seal
Population 1996-2000. The guidelines shall be based upon the
following principles:
60.1 only a very limited number of persons in each country shall
be authorized to decide on the handling of diseased or weakened
seals or abandoned pups, including taking and releasing of the
animals, and only such animals may be taken which have a chance
to survive;
60.2 seals rehabilitated shall only be released into the wild
on a permit granted by
the national authority responsible for nature conservation and
management if the following criteria are met:
(i) the seal has not been treated with specific groups of medicine
to be further specified in the framework of the Conservation
and Management Plan for the Seals which will be amended in 1995;
(ii) the seal does not carry pathogens alien to the wild population;
(iii) the seal is released as soon as possible but not later
than half a year after it has been brought in for rehabilitation;
(iv) the seal has not been kept in a center where species of
animals alien to the Wadden Sea, or marine mammals not resident
in the Wadden Sea, are held;
60.3 seals should only be released in the areas where they were
found;
60.4 seals shall not be transported between subregions of the
Wadden Sea;
60.5 seals held in captivity shall, in principle, not be released
into the wild;
60.6 seals born in captivity shall not be released into the wild;
exemptions can only be allowed after the approval of the competent
authorities."
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| ECOTARGETS |
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At the Leeuwarden
Conference 1994, a set of common targets for the Wadden Sea
ecosystem was adopted. The objective of the trilateral management
is to guarantee the natural functioning of the ecosystem through
proper regulation of human activities. It was acknowledged that
the best guarantee for a natural ecosystem is to achieve a full
scale of habitat types which belong to a natural and dynamic
Wadden Sea. Each of these habitats needs a certain physical quality,
which can be reached by proper management of the area. This quality
can be described by certain characteristic structures, the presence
of certain organisms, the absence of disturbance and toxic effects
and the chemical quality of the habitat. In addition supplementary
targets on marine mammals and birds have been agreed upon, because
these are important indicators of the biological quality of the
ecosystem.
Target on marine mammals: "Viable stocks and a natural reproduction
capacity, including juvenile survival, of common seal and grey
seal". This eco-target is relevant for the tidal areas,
and to a lesser extent also to beaches, primary dunes and salt
marshes as far as grey seals are concerned during breeding season.
The target is also relevant for the harbour porpoise in the off-shore
zone.
The term "viable stocks" has to be specified in such
a way that a connection with management is possible. The numbers
that can be expected according to the natural carrying capacity
of the Wadden Sea depend on factors that are defined by the fish
stocks, suitable haul-out substrate and on the effects of diseases
and parasites in dense populations. The absence of significant
human impact on the population size, to be judged and monitored
in the course of the years, is the standard for the first part
of the target.
The term "natural reproduction capacity" has to be
specified in such a way that a connection with management is
possible. The natural reproduction capacity of seals depends
on many factors - water quality, disturbance, population sizes
- and can probably not be expressed by a simple number of range.
Based upon regular best experts judgment, it will have to be
assessed whether the reproduction can be regarded as natural.
This second part of the target is one of the main, still not
really solved, problems of the last
decades: the reduced reproduction rates due to PCBs and other
organic micro-pollutants. The production of 0,85 - 0,95 pup per
mature female per year is the proposed reference for the second
one.
The present population can theoretically be regarded as viable.
However, despite the good protection of the main resting and
nursing places, the environmental conditions are still not satisfactory.
Both with regard to the chemical and physical condition - i.e.
disturbance level - the habitat improvements are necessary for
example through:
- reduction of PCBs and other chemicals, which can reduce the
fertility of seals;
- reduction of all disturbances, which can e.g. increase the
pup mortality;
- favorable food availability (e.g. measurements concerning fishery
and eutrophication);
- area protection of high and low tide breeding areas;
- determination of the exact number of by catches of seals and
in particular regulation of the bottom-set gillnet fishery.
The concept of eco-targets was taken into account during the
compilation of the revised Seal Management Plan.
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| JOINT
SEAL PROJECT |
Due to a virus epidemic in 1988, which reduced the common seal
population in the Wadden Sea by approximately 60%, it was clear
that there was a special need for combined efforts towards protecting
the seals and achieving a favorable conservation status. In order
to provide favorable conditions for a successful recovery of
the population, more information on population parameters of
the common seal population in the Wadden Sea was needed. Therefore,
a comprehensive Joint Seal Project (JSP) was carried out, with
the aim to improve the development of a long-term joint conservation
and management plan, including the monitoring of the population.
Aerial surveys, telemetric experiments and a descriptive population
model were used as methods for the needed population parameters.
This study, which was supported by the European Commission, was
carried out by four groups in Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen
and The Netherlands and finalized after 5 years at the end of
1994. The results of the JSP were taken into consideration during
the compilation of the revised Seal Management Plan.
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