Harbour seal movements and haul-out patterns:Implications for monitoring and management

• Published in: Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
• Main Authors: Cunningham, Louise, Baxter, John M., Boyd, Ian L., Duck, Callan D., Lonergan, Mike, Moss, Simon E., McConnell, Bernie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Conservation; Critical habitat; Harbour seal; Phoca vitulina; Protected areas; Satellite telemetry; Scotland; Site-fidelity; SRDLs; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1104; name=Aquatic Science; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2303; name=Ecology; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2309; name=Nature and Landscape Conservation; harbour seal
• Online Access: https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/52fb8e0f-5889-4564-a14b-0e2b34f59d02; https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.983; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67650105293&partnerID=8YFLogxK

1. Compliance with conservation legislation requires knowledge on the behaviour, abundance and distribution of protected species. Seal life history is characterized by a combination of marine foraging and a requirement to haul out on a solid substrate for reproduction and moulting. Thus understanding the use of haul out sites, where seals are counted, as well as their at-sea movements is crucial for designing effective monitoring and management plans. 2. This study used satellite transmitters deployed on 24 harbour seals in western Scotland to examine movements and haul-out patterns. 3. The proportion of time harbour seals spent hauled out (daily means of between 11 and 27%) varied spatially, temporally and according to sex. The mean haul-out duration was 5 h, with a maximum of over 24 h. 4. Patterns of movement were observed at two geographical scales; while some seals travelled over 100 km, 50% of trips were within 25km of a haul-out site. These patterns are important for the identification of a marine component to designated protected areas for the species. 5. On average seals returned to the haul-out sites they last used during 40% of trips, indicating a degree of site fidelity, though there was wide variation between different haul-out sites (range 0% to <75%). 6. Low fidelity haul-out sites could form a network of land-based protected areas, while high fidelity sites might form appropriate management units.