Seal at-sea distribution, movements and behaviour

• Main Authors: Russell, Deborah Jill Fraser, McConnell, Bernie J
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Energy and Climate Change 2014
• Subjects: Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/seal-atsea-distribution-movements-and-behaviour(d68f50c1-90d0-4ba6-92f4-4591c25f1424).html; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/346304/OESEA2_SMRU_Seal_distribution_and_behaviour.pdf

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) programme requires robust evidence to inform DECC policy development and execution. Funded by multiple agencies, the Sea Mammal Research Unit, in collaboration with others, has deployed around 600 telemetry tags on harbour (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the UK over the last 25 years. The objective of this project was to consolidate these data to allow combined analyses for the production of a high quality information base on the at-sea distribution, movements and behaviour of UK seals in the form of peer-reviewed papers. To this end, all data were collated and consolidated into a managed database. Protocols were developed to clean all historical and incoming telemetry data in a consistent and effective manner. Protocols are also in place that ensures telemetry tags are monitored in real time. These procedures facilitate the use of telemetry data in a standardised format for various projects. Three main areas were addressed in the subsequent data analyses. First the foraging distribution of grey seals was related to their breeding distribution. Second, using a state-space model we improved on current methods for defining activity budgets in seals by categorising four states: hauled out, resting at-sea, travelling and foraging, and we related these budgets to intrinsic (sex, age), time invariant (region) and time variant (day of the year, time of day) covariates. Finally, we investigated the foraging habitat preference of both species. Grey seals are capital breeders; they accumulate resources for breeding during the majority of the year and then do not forage while suckling their pups. Thus understanding where the effects of any given at-sea impact may be reflected in a breeding population ashore (especially at European and other conservation sites) is critical. This requires quantification of the movement of female grey seals between the foraging and breeding seasons. Along with ...