Illegal shooting of seals

[twinkle]

Watched Martin clunes snorkelling with seals last night on Islands of britain, was pretty spectacular!

was it hard to tell the difference? which one was the seal :lol:hes built like a sealion

[Creep]

Hey Gang i found something that i think we'd seriously be interested in ... a Seal Replllent!!! --->
http://www.canada.com/Vancouver+Island+ ... story.html

i think an email to this gent and il offer to test it rigorlessly over here but i dont think it would take them long to get used to the sound of it.there clever bastardos.maybe if i paint the hull black and white it might have the right effect

The cool thing is I was out around the Saltees with a mate of mine (about 2 years ago, wasnt involved with this site at the time ), fishin, near that seal colony when we saw three Orcas comin around and the seals hopped on to any dry piece of land they could find, I've sent an email off enquiring about getting one, to see if it will work here and Being only $25 its not a huge investment (hell I spent more on tackle), also thought of another use for it...Dail Eireann :D (i'd love to see them jump!!)

[twinkle]

The cool thing is I was out around the Saltees with a mate of mine (about 2 years ago, wasnt involved with this site at the time ), fishin, near that seal colony when we saw three Orcas comin around and the seals hopped on to any dry piece of land they could find, I've sent an email off enquiring about getting one, to see if it will work here and Being only $25 its not a huge investment (hell I spent more on tackle), also thought of another use for it...Dail Eireann (i'd love to see them jump!!)


the device only works on seals creep. wont work on fat cats and piggies [beatles]

[Creep]

The cool thing is I was out around the Saltees with a mate of mine (about 2 years ago, wasnt involved with this site at the time ), fishin, near that seal colony when we saw three Orcas comin around and the seals hopped on to any dry piece of land they could find, I've sent an email off enquiring about getting one, to see if it will work here and Being only $25 its not a huge investment (hell I spent more on tackle), also thought of another use for it...Dail Eireann (i'd love to see them jump!!)


the device only works on seals creep. wont work on fat cats and piggies [beatles]

Ahhhh Damn!!!!

[yappo]

As Twinkle said this has been one of the best threads recently. A big thanks to Creep for keeping the debate well balanced.
I have been in touch with some guys in NPWS and below is the emails as they occurred.
I for one will try to gather as much info as I can this year and send it on to Oliver.

Hi Eamonn,

I am trying to gather some information on harbour seals and grey seals in the greater Dublin area, particularly Dun Laoghaire, Dalkey and Howth.
I am not sure if population counts have been undertaken at any stage. As a boat owner, out and about a lot fishing, photo taking etc I feel that the population is growing but maybe it’s just that the seals are becoming more accustomed to people and approach boats more readily.
Any information you could give me, or even pointers as to where I can get information would be very much appreciated.

Thank You

Pat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pat,

Thanks for the query. I'm going to forward it to our seal expert as he may have a much better idea of the specifics of your query.

In any case, most if not all our seal reports are to be found at http://www.npws.ie/marine/marinereports/

Kind regards,

Eamonn

Dear Patrick,

Dr Eamonn Kelly has referred your recent email request on to me.
As he mentioned, detailed information for Ireland is held in a number of seal population reports that are available online (see www.npws.ie/marine under Marine Reports).

The Department is currently commissioning a repeat survey of the west-south-east of Ireland for Harbour seals (primarily) & Grey seals to take place this coming August. This work should provide summer count updates from 'haul-out' or resting sites along the east coast, including the Dublin area for example.

For Dalkey-to-Howth and the Dublin Bay area: The surveys mentioned above have picked up some seals of both species at Dalkey Island-the Muglins and cliffbound beaches/rocks/gullies around Howth Head (Grey seals only). Both species also use a site on North Bull Island/Sutton Creek but information from this location is very limited.

I am also interested in any additional records/info you might have and I'd be grateful if you could add anything further from the Dublin-Wicklow area or elsewhere.

Kind regards,

Oliver

Dr Oliver Ó Cadhla
Marine mammal ecologist

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Dear Oliver,

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. The background to my query is as follows:-

I am a member on a number of internet based fishing and boating sites where I share info with like minded individuals. Recently a post was put up regarding seals being shot and washed up on Tramore beach in Waterford. This post received mixed reactions, nobody thankfully condoned the shooting, but it appeared from what was said that members in the greater Dublin area had been having problems with seals approaching very close to boats and taking fish off lines as they were being retrieved etc. Nowhere else in the country seems to be having this problem. A lot of info came out about people feeding seals in harbours etc and seal sanctuary people saving injured seals adding to the problem. I had already observed a big increase in this sort of thing in recent years but rather than get led astray by emotional guess work I thought it would be an idea to try and find out more scientific info. I will read the reports as you recommend and will pass on any info I gain to the lads on these websites. I know absolutely nothing about seals other than it is nice to see them on the islands at Dalkey as I go about. I will try to start taking notes of how many I see and when, what tide state etc. If by year end I have managed to gather any worthwhile info I will certainly pass it on to you. If there is any particular info you would like me to gather please let me know.

Thanks again for your help.

Pat


Dear Pat,

Glad to be of help and many thanks for the additional info which is useful to know.
Key information that is handy to collect, in general, if you're going about it:

1. Location name (or Lat/Long or grid reference)
2. Date
3. Time of day (local time)
4. State of tide (e.g., usually represented as time before/after low water: LW+1hr, LW-2hr)
5. No. of Harbour seals (classed as adults/juveniles; on land and/or in water but count separately)
6. No. of Grey seals (classed as adults/juveniles/whitecoat pups; on land and/or in water but count separately)

All the best,

Oliver


Haven't had much time to read the marine reports yet but will be having a look.

Hope this helps in some way.

Yappo

[twinkle]

thats a great result pat .they replied very quickly, i will certainly take notes on whats around howth while im out.

[sparkey+1]

Kev and twinkle fair play to both of you for some intersting facts Good work keep it up .

[Creep]

Lads while your out take the camera as well and try to Identify the seals this would go a HUGE way to solving issues etc, say if there was a problem seal, Im also in the process of trying to order that seal repllent

[Creep]

ANother thing if you note the wording with in Olivers email, they are mainly taken a count of HARBOUR seals aka the common seal, which was misnamed in the 18th cent, as its the rarer of the two (the one that has the pussy cat face) there 25 of them (or used to be last summer) off Sutton Dighny club. Tail end of the Bull, as I said before these are the ones that will not come near you when your fishin. The reason why they are making a great effort with the greys is the greys figures can go up and down dramaticaly as they transit across.

I said it, before and I'll say it again, please stop pointing the finger at the Seal Sanctuary, and reared seals, theres Data and evidence to prove these seals Do NOT hang around Ireland after release

[twinkle]

Lads while your out take the camera as well and try to Identify the seals this would go a HUGE way to solving issues etc, say if there was a problem seal, Im also in the process of trying to order that seal repllent

if you can get them kevin put me down for one

[Creep]

Lads while your out take the camera as well and try to Identify the seals this would go a HUGE way to solving issues etc, say if there was a problem seal, Im also in the process of trying to order that seal repllent

if you can get them kevin put me down for one

Lets test one first mate, no point in all of us buying them to find they wont work We'll head over to Howth (I'll ring you) and we see the result, that is if i can lay my hands one one grrr 5 emails so far tryin to track this fella down,

Yappo could you PM Dr Olivers email address thanks tried to get into the NPWs site but their pages are shutting down

[twinkle]

Lets test one first mate, no point in all of us buying them to find they wont work We'll head over to Howth (I'll ring you) and we see the result, that is if i can lay my hands one one grrr 5 emails so far tryin to track this fella down,

if it works on seals it might work the opposite way also might attact a few pods in think were going to need a bigger boat