SCOTLAND’S SEALS IN GOOD NUMBERS

A full census reveals Scotland’s harbour seals are doing well, but there remains a striking divide between east and west coast populations. Between 2016 and 2019 almost the entire Scottish coastline was surveyed by helicopter by the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews. Northern and eastern coasts have seen significant declines since the early 2000s, but in contrast, numbers in the west have been either stable or increasing. More than threequarters (78%) of all harbour seals live in the west.