A couple of weeks ago I was taking photographs of seals hauled out at a skerry at Widewall Bay, in South Ronaldsay (Orkney). This haul out is frequently used by seals, although their numbers may vary from day to day. It seems to be a good place to rest for both grey and harbour seals, as it is surrounded by water that can be accessed easily, and it is currently used by mum and pup pairs in the area. The seals tend to spread along the skerry on its east side (the one facing the nearby beach) and slowly relocate towards the right end of the skerry as the tide goes down and dry sand surrounds the other end.
As the tide was going down and more area was getting exposed I observed a bulk of seaweed with a buoy and a seagull on it, which was very interested on something that was hiding below. As I looked closer, I saw what looked like a seal under the seaweed, and I suspected it had got entangled in maybe discarded nets or rope attached to the exposed buoy. I waited for the tide to go even lower and decided to check it out. When I got closer though, there were more bad news awaiting, as there were not only one but two dead harbour seal pups that had got entangled in the discarded nets. Very sad.
I took measurements and pictures of both pups in order to report them to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), and retrieved the one that looked fresher to store until a postmortem necropsy can be conducted by staff at SMASS in Inverness. The pups were a male and a female entangled with either rope or nets, but that looked healthy otherwise. The discarded nets sit right in front of the haulout, and my guess is that the pups got curious in one of their adventurous swims, got entangled and it was too late by the time the tide came up again. Reporting dead seals, although sad, is a key element to this an any other project studying animal populations in Scotland. If you see a dead seal during a walk along the beach, you can contact SMASS to provide them with information on what you have found.
What I also realized is that those nets could cause more trouble if left there, but they were too heavy for one person to pull them out. Luckily I got in touch with Jenni, a biologist at the department of Development & Infrastructure at the Orkney Islands Council Marine Services in Scapa, who has been storing some samples for SMRU while we do our research in Orkney. She agreed something had to be done about those nets and very kindly offered to help. The next day she came to Widewall Bay with Madeline, another member of staff at the Marine Services, and joined Stuart and myself with their land rover, key to our success!
We quickly realized the discarded nets were huge and had been there for a very long time, as they easily broke off when pulled. We started by trying to dig out the part of the nets buried in the fine sand, under close observation by the seals hauled out nearby. We discovered a few different types of nets and up to four old buoys, completely full of water.
We tied a bunch of nets to a rope and to the land rover, and after a couple of failed attempts, the nets started to slowly move. Jenni drove the nets as far away from the haulout as possible, by the high tide mark. Once there, we cut out the buoys and pulled the nets by hand even further. At least these nets shouldn’t cause any more trouble to the seals in Widewall Bay. I am very grateful to Jenni, Madeline and Stuart for helping out, and to the Orkney Marine Services based in Scapa for the use of their land rover to successfully removing the discarded nets.
Written by Monica