Gray seals are back in the Baltic Sea. With more than 38,000 animals counted, the population is now about half as large as it was in the 19th century. The population in the southern Baltic Sea in particular is growing strongly - according to marine biologist Linda Westphal from the German Maritime Museum in Stralsund, by around 20 percent annually. However, this region has only a small share of the total population with around 3500 animals.
Experts use airplanes to count how many gray seals live in the Baltic Sea. In October the Jordsand association counted more than a hundred gray seals on the island of Greifswalder Oie alone. In the Greifswalder Bodden there were 200 to 300 animals in spring. In contrast, significantly fewer seals can be found on the German Baltic Sea coasts in summer, says Westphal. "Most come with the cold water on our coasts."
Because gray seals eat fish, they were once stubbornly hunted. A hunter officially killed the last specimen in Germany 100 years ago. "Back then there was a premium for every seal killed, the lower jaw had to be presented, unimaginable today," says Westphal.
The largest mammals in Germany
Gray seals are predators and the largest wild mammals in Germany. The Baltic gray seal (Halichoerus grypus balticus) is considered a separate gray seal subspecies. In the eighties it was on the verge of extinction with 2500 specimens. A ban on hunting ensured that the population recovered across the Baltic Sea. The animals have been sighted more frequently since 2004.
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The seals are "opportunistic predators," says Westphal. Depending on the offer, they mainly hunt salmon, but also seals and porpoises as well as seabirds and crabs. They like to eat herrings, cod and sprats in the Baltic Sea. Many fishermen are therefore critical of the growing stock.
Young gray seal offspring was also born on the coast of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, according to Westphal, found dead. There are no established throwing spots on the German Baltic Sea coast yet. In her project of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) on the return of the seals, she had so far found only 30 animals that lived in the same place all year round.
