Grey Seal Numbers in the Wadden Sea and on Helgoland in 2019-2020

Expert Group Seals

The Wadden Sea areas in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands were surveyed for grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) during the pupping season (November 2019 –January 2020) and during the moulting period (March-April 2020) by means of coordinated aerial surveys and in the case of Helgoland, by land based counts. These surveys provide data on the changes in grey seal occupancy of the area and changes in the local breeding population. In part, the grey seals observed in the Wadden Sea during the moult, may breed in the UK where the largest part of the greater North Sea population are observed (~100.000 individuals).

Authors: Members of the trilateral Expert Group Seals (EG-Seals): Sophie Brasseur, Florian Carius, Britta Diederichs, Anders Galatius, Armin Jeß, Peter Körber, Jessica Schop, Ursula Siebert, Jonas Teilmann, Charlotte Bie Thøstesen, Sascha Klöpper

This report was published 2020-07-03.

This report should be cites as: Brasseur S., Carius F., Diederichs B., Galatius A., Jeß A., Körber P., Schop J., Siebert U., Teilmann J., Bie Thøstesen C. & Klöpper S. (2020) EG-Seals grey seal surveys in the Wadden Sea and Helgoland in 2019-2020. Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.