Healthy seal populations

Five species of seal occur in the OSPAR area. In the North Sea, only the grey and the harbour seal are common.

Declines in the population size or pup production indicate health problems in seal colonies, and maybe other marine mammals. Many factors may underlie to these changes, therefore failure to meet the EcoQOshould trigger research to find out the cause of decline. Where problems result from human activities, suitable management measures might then be taken. This EcoQO is not directly related to a single human activity, but rather is an indicator of problems. In recent decades, virus infections led to high mortality amongst seals.
The objective aims to maintain healthy populations of seals by triggering management actions when needed.