Seals
Seals are large carnivorous marine mammals which have evolved from a bear-like ancestor over 30 million years ago and returned to the sea : they belong to the suborder Pinnipedia which consists of three families : Odobenidae (walruses - just once species ), Otariidae (sea lions, eared seals, and fur seals - 14 species), and Phocidae (true seals - 19 species ).
All seals found in British waters belong to the family Phocidae and are more highly specialized for aquatic life than other pinnipeds, have no external ears and cannot bring their hind flippers under their body to walk on them. They are more streamlined and can swim more effectively over long distances than fur seals, sea lions and walruses but because they cannot turn their hind flippers downward, they are very clumsy on land, having to wriggle with their front flippers and abdominal muscles. True seals do not communicate by "barking" but by slapping the water and grunting.
Britain's only native seals are the Grey Seal (Halichocerus grypus) and the Common Seal (Phoca vitulina) (which despite its name is not as common as the Grey Seal in the UK.) Worldwide there are thought to be around 500,ooo Common (or Harbour) Seals, of which 36,000 live in British waters, and 250,000 Grey Seals, half of which live and breed here. Both seals live only in the Northern Hemisphere. Other rare visitors are Harp Seals and Hooded Seals, both of which are native to the Northwest Atlantic, and Bearded and Ringed Seals which are more usually found in the oceans surrounding the Arctic Circle.
Conservation Status
Seals vary in the protection afforded to them according to where they live : in the UK, Grey seals were the first mammals to be protected by modern legislation - the Grey Seals Protection Act of 1914. The Conservation of Seals Act 1970 made it illegal to kill either grey or common seals during their breeding seasons (Grey seal close season : 1st September – 31st December; common seal close season : 1st June – 31st August) although seals causing damage at fish nets can still be killed. It also limited the kinds of weapons that could be used to kill them when they can legally be killed. The law also allows complete protection to be given in certain circumstances. For instance, grey seals in England and Wales, though not Scotland, were fully protected following the outbreak of phocine distemper in 1988. At present there is a permanent close season on seals in the English waters they inhabit (source : DEFRA http://www.defra.gov.uk). Licences are required for the killing or taking of seals where this is necessary,
The Conservation of Seals (Scotland) Order 2007 brings in a year-round close season for areas where there has been a 40% drop in seal numbers. This includes Shetland, Orkney and an area of the east coast between Stonehaven and Dunbar. The shooting of common seals will only be possible with a licence from the Scottish Executive or if it can be proved that they are damaging fishing nets. In 1973, a special Order of the Conservation of Seals Act was passed which protects common seals in the Shetland Islands all year round.
In the UK there have been calls for a cull from some fishermen, claiming that stocks have declined due to the seals. A recent paper from the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University (see http://smub.st-and.ac.uk/ ) shows that seals take less than 1% of the total stock biomass in the North Sea and the real cause of the problem is over fishing.
In the United States seals and other marine are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and it is illegal to kill or otherwise harm them, whereas in Canada there is an annual seal hunt which regularly causes outrage and condemnation from all corners of the globe. The IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) was founded in 1969 to campaign against the Canadian seal hunt and continue to actively oppose the slaughter.