Survey of the grey seal population in the Lower Saxonian Wadden Sea

grey seals at the beach, photo taken by plane
Project data  
Project leader: Prof. Prof. h. c. Dr. Ursula Siebert
Project term: since April 2013
Sponsorship: Ministry of Energy, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitalisation (MELUND)
Photo of s group of grey seals during a flight survey
Haulout of grey seals. Photo A. van Neer

Project description

The aim of the project is the population survey of grey seals in the Lower Saxonian Wadden Sea during the annually breeding season.
Flight supported surveys with single-engine aircrafts will be conducted on trilateral synchronised dates. The haulouts (see photograph) will be photographed with a high-resolution reflex camera while flying across the Wadden Sea areas. The photographs will be evaluated in order to determine the total population, the distribution and number of pups.
For the constituent the recorded population counts and distribution shall serve as a base for the creation of grey seal distribution maps.