Identifying foraging habitats of Baltic ringed seals using movement data.

Background: Identification of key foraging habitats of aquatic top predators is essential for designing effective management and conservation strategies. The Baltic ringed seal (Phoca hispida botnica) interacts with anthropogenic activities and knowledge of its spatial ecology is needed for planning population management and mitigating interactions with coastal fisheries. We investigated habitat use and foraging habitats of ringed seals (n = 26) with satellite telemetry in the northern Baltic Sea during autumn, which is important time for foraging for ringed seals.

A novel tool to mitigate by-catch mortality of baltic seals in coastal fyke net fishery.

Developing methods to reduce the incidental catch of non-target species is important, as by-catch mortality poses threats especially to large aquatic predators. We examined the effectiveness of a novel device, a "seal sock", in mitigating the by-catch mortality of seals in coastal fyke net fisheries in the Baltic Sea. The seal sock developed and tested in this study was a cylindrical net attached to the fyke net, allowing the seals access to the surface to breathe while trapped inside fishing gear.