The Atlantic Grey Seal

These animals are found throughout the North Atlantic Ocean, especially off coastlines of the United Kingdom and Canada. They can dive to depths of 70 meters in search of food such as fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, and sand eels while being able to hold their breath for up to 16 minutes. Pups are dependent upon their mothers for food and protection for the first 3 weeks of their lives. The pups gain 2kg of weight from their mothers milk each day building up their layers of blubber. After about a month the pups begin to venture off on their own to hunt. Threats to pups include abandonment in the first 3 weeks, food shortages when they begin to hunt on their own, predators such as sharks and killer whales, and human interference.

Humans have over fished a lot of their hunting grounds. After grey seal pups have shed their white coats, like the ones pictures, they are killed for their fur (still today in Canada and the UK). They are also killed by fisherman trying to prevent damage to their fishing nets and traps and on the premise of their beliefs that their fish stocks are being depleted due to the abundance of seals. Let us not forget that they can just as easily become entangled in fishing nets and be subject to the consumption of plastics and the threats of oil spills.

All in all you can help by not supporting companies or governments that approve of these hunting practices as well as being aware of sustainable fishing. Monterey Bay Aquarium has created an app called Seafood Watch that allows you to find alternative fish species to the more common, overfished types, and where different species are farmed or caught to ensure if their executing sustainable fishing practiced.

Originally posted on 28 October 2018

(not my pictures)