Grey seal personalities affect pups

Grey seals have different types of personality that affect the extent to which they guard and care for their young, according to new research.

Researchers from the universities of St Andrews and Durham found seal mothers were often unpredictable and adopted a wide variation of mothering styles.

Some were attentive to their pups while others were not, the experts found.

The study shows, for the first time, the extent of personality differences in marine mammals in the wild.

It shows how individual animals have differing behavioural styles, and how they may be limited in their ability to respond to different environments.

The researchers said the findings could have benefits for future conservation policy, habitat management and reveals new information about the process of evolution.

Researchers observed seals on the Scottish island of North Rona during the breeding season between September and November over a two-year period.

The team targeted the animals in their natural habitat to analyse individual variation and consistency in behavioural response.

Using a remote controlled vehicle with a fitted video camera, the researchers set up tests to assess how seals reacted to external stimuli and potential threats, including wolf calls played from the vehicle.

The seals' reactions ranged from disinterested to aggressive.

The team checked the responses of seal mothers by recording the number of pup checks made (where the mother raises her head off the ground and moves it in the direction of her young to check their well-being) during a specific time period.

Individual patterns on their fur meant the researchers could identify the seals over two years

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Canada plans massive seal cull

Grey seal cull: Canada plans to cull 140,000 seals to protect fisheries September 2011: The Canadian fisheries ministry are promoting a vast cull of grey seals to protect Canadian fisheries that crashed due to huge overfishing but have not recovered. The ministeries report, despite admitting 'scientific uncertainties' recommends a massive cull of seals to protect valuable fish stocks. Wildlife Extra questions this, purely on the logical basis that if the seals rely on the fish to survive, why are the seals thriving despite the fact that fish stocks are so low?

INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE (IFAW) AND GROUP OF SCIENTISTS SPEAK OUT

The International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Science Advisor, Dr David Lavigne, and five other marine scientists have sent an open letter to Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans condemning a report by the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) which calls for a massive cull of grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The open letter was sent to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, the Honourable Keith Ashfield, on September 26, 2011. In the letter, the scientists describe the Department of Fisheries and Oceans workshop, which informed the FRCC report, as biased and also state that there is no scientific evidence to support a grey seal cull. The scientists recommend that the Minister reject the FRCC recommendation to cull grey seals, and also suggest that a review be done by independent scientists.

Quotes from the Report

Scientific uncertainties

"Scientific uncertainties and societal sensitivities surround the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council killing and discarding of animals solely to reduce their competition with humans for shared natural resources. Seal control programs elsewhere, such as in the Barents Sea, are relatively small. In eastern Canada, we have seal populations at the peak of the exponential phase, so the reductions calculated to be necessary to produce a positive effect on groundfish recovery are very large. In addition, we are subject to intense international scrutiny that has the potential to put established markets for Canadian seafood products at serious risk."

Hypotheis - Seals eat all the fish
"It has been hypothesized since the mid-1990s that predation by seals is the dominant cause of the high rate of natural mortality that has impeded the recovery of many groundfish stocks".

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/canada-seal-cull.html

Great white sharks amass off Martha's Vineyard

Gathering by the shores of Monomoy Island near Martha's Vineyard, where much of the movie "Jaws" was filmed, great white sharks have people on notice in the Northeast.


The sharks make a pilgrimage to this region every year to feed, but a particularly large gray seal population has become an enticing magnet for the large, toothy predators. The presence of the sharks has created a booming tourism business as well as some jitters in the area.

"Gray seals have a lot of blubber and meat, so they are a high efficiency preferred menu item of great white sharks," New England Aquarium spokesperson Tony LaCasse told Discovery News. "Somehow the word is out in the great white world that this is the place to be."

He added, "Humans are not on their menu because we are a completely inefficient meal, since great white sharks are looking for maximum calories per kill."

Federal protection of marine mammals has been in place since 1972, and has led to the recovery of gray seals in the area, which are larger and fattier than Harbor seals that are in the waters off of Cape Cod. LaCasse suspects it took this long for gray seals to build up their population.

When seal numbers were down, the great white sharks mostly fed on dead whale carcasses, called "floaters." LaCasse said just this May, a fisherman went to explore a dead Minke whale near Martha's Vineyard and was surprised by a great white shark that swam out from under the whale "and checked him out.” The fisherman escaped without injuries.

Monomoy Island, where the great whites have been spotted, is an 8-mile spit of sand extending southwest from Cape Cod, and a national wildlife refuge, where access is limited. This has helped to keep people safe from the sharks. A booming tourism industry, with great white sharks as the No. 1 draw, has emerged in nearby Chatham, Mass. Tourism dollars are down by 4 percent in the Cape as a whole, but Chatham has seen a 15 percent uptick, especially now that it's the summer vacation season. LaCasse said during one recent tour, "a great white took a free-swimming seal" in a bloody, violent battle viewed by families riveted to the real life event.

Recent research supports the rise in great white shark numbers off of Cape Cod. A tagging project led by Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), succeeded in tagging six white sharks, ranging from 10 to 18 feet in length, off the coast of Monomoy Island. The DMF notes there has been a "recent increase in shark sightings," mentioning "the growing population of gray seals."


Not everyone appears to be pleased by the changes. In the past several weeks, five adult gray seals were found shot on Cape Cod beaches from Dennis to Chatham. Some local fishermen have expressed concern over the seals' presence, which has decreased the prevalence of certain fish. It remains unclear, however, who shot the seals.

No shark attacks have been reported off of Massachusetts this year, according to Bethan Gillett, a technician at the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

She did indicate there's been a modest rise in attacks nationwide since May, with seven happening that month, seven reported in June, and three occurring in July so far.


"I don't think we are seeing a spike in attacks, though," Gillett told Discovery News. "The attacks are correlated with more people in the water for recreational activities."

One shark victim was a 12-year-old boy who was bitten in the foot by a bull shark off the Texas Gulf coast. The boy has endured several surgeries and requires more, but he is expected to make a full recovery.

"This was very unusual for Texas," Mike Cox, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, told Discovery News. "We haven't had a fatality due to shark attack since 1962, so no one feels this is cause for panic or alarm. You are more likely to be hit by lightning than to be bitten by a shark."

LaCasse pointed out that bull sharks can be particularly tenacious, since they have the highest measured testosterone of any animal. To avoid encountering one, or any shark, he advises, "If you see a seal in the water, you should not be in the water. We're poor swimmers, and when sharks see us thrashing around, they can confuse us for their desired prey."

He also advises not to swim alone in deep water and not to swim at dusk, when visibility is down and shark numbers might be up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43797180/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/great-white-sharks-amass-marthas-vineyard/