Seal occurrence in the Tidal Elbe over the course of the year 2023/2024

Tidal estuarie of the Elbe River, photo taken by plane
Tidal Elbe, Photo ITAW
Project data  
Project coordination: Prof. Prof. h. c. Dr. Ursula Siebert
Scientific staff: Dr. Isabel Avila, Dr. Dominik Nachtsheim
Project term: August 2023-July 2024
Sponsorship: Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG), Projektleitung in der BfG: Dr. Thomas Taupp, Referat U4 Tierökologie

Project description

In this project, the population of harbor seals and grey seals will be surveyed over a period of 12 months (2023-2024) to assess their abundance and distribution in the Tidal Elbe area. The aerial surveys of the seal population in the Elbe estuary will take place from August 2023 to July 2024. During the flight along all known and potential haul-out sites, images will be taken with a high-resolution digital SLR camera and subsequently analysed. This conversion to the photo-based method was successfully carried out in previous projects and innovatively further developed in order to be able to provide the client with reliable figures and the highest possible transparency as well as reproducibility of the results.

 

Observer photographing a grey seal roost from an airplane
Photographic capture by an observer (© ITAW).
Harbor seals on their mooring photographed from airplane
Harbor seals photographed from an aircraft (© ITAW).