Disappearing

I've read that our seals are disappearing alarmingly from around our shores. Nobody seems to know why.

'Marine biologists have warned of significant and serious changes in the seas around Britain after detecting a steep and "frightening" fall in the numbers of common seals around the coast.


Common seals are one of Britain's largest and most charismatic marine predators and the most likely to be seen by holidaymakers and sailors. But the latest surveys have revealed a dramatic decline in their numbers in Scotland's waters and along eastern England.

In the worst affected areas, such as the Orkney islands, the numbers of common seals are falling by 10% a year, and have dropped by as much as half in the past six years. Along the Argyll coast, from Oban to the Mull of Kintyre, the numbers fell by a quarter last year.

Ian Boyd, a professor with the sea mammals research unit at St Andrew's University, said it was as if the entire population had stopped breeding.

The cause was baffling scientists. "We just don't know," he said. "Our collective view is that there's some large-scale process going on in the northern North Sea which is driving down seal numbers. We're seeing a massive decline. It's quite a frightening decline because these populations don't change as quickly as that under normal circumstances.'