Seal Population Ecology

In 1994 the Irish Government’s Seal-Fisheries Interactions Working Group funded research by Oliver Ó Cadhla on Ireland’s grey seal population. Focused on the main known colonies in the southeast (Saltee Islands, Co. Wexford), southwest (Blasket Islands, Co. Kerry) and northwest of the country (Inishkea Island group, Co. Mayo), this was the first multiannual study of its kind since seals were given protection under the Wildlife Act, 1976.

Thanks to support and guidance from the Working Group, experts at Conservation Research Ltd and the Sea Mammal Research Unit the 4-year PhD project employed a range of techniques to assess seal population size, behavioural ecology and movements within and between key Irish sites.

Scientific research on seals in Ireland has expanded dramatically since the mid-1990’s and from 1996 to 2008 Oliver developed, co-ordinated and jointly managed a series of collaborative national and international projects, first at the Coastal & Marine Research Centre and since 2009 with the National Parks & Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. This work includes national seal population assessments, investigations of seal predation on fisheries and fish stocks in the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea, the assessment and mitigation of environmental risk to seals from a range of human activities, and assisting the Irish Government with its species surveillance programs and conservation obligations under the EU Habitats Directive.