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Surveys of harbor seals to assess pup production in Denmark are conducted at the assumed breeding season peak between 9 and 15 hr at winds <10 m/s, with no precipitation at least 6 hr before observations and at low tide in areas with a significant tidal range. Harbor seal pups can swim immediately after birth, so the fraction available for counting likely varies according to conditions. In the Limfjord, a separate harbor seal population is living in a large inlet in northern Denmark where >95% of pups are born at two haul‐out sites situated 4 km apart. Drone surveys of these two haul‐outs were conducted throughout the breeding seasons during 2017–2019. The effects of weather conditions and timing of surveys on counts were analyzed by generalized additive mixed models. The best‐performing model included date and wind speed. Pup counts grew from the onset of the observation period and were predicted to peak on June 22. Wind speed had a linear relationship with pup counts and > 50% more pups were counted at 5 m/s than at 1 m/s. To achieve representative pup counts careful consideration of survey conditions and possibly correction for these effects are necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grey seal became locally extinct in the southern Baltic Sea, Danish Straits and Kattegat in the early 1900s after prolonged culling campaigns. Here, we combine national monitoring and anecdotal data from Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland to report on the grey seal's recolonisation of those areas and the initial reestablishment of breeding colonies. Grey seal occurrence has steadily increased since year 2003 as evidenced by the coordinated Baltic Sea moult censuses. At the first census in 2003, there were 146 grey seals along the southern Baltic coasts of Sweden and Denmark, ca 1% of the total Baltic Sea population count. Since 2015, this has increased to 2000–2600 grey seals, or ca 7% of the total population count. Since the local extinction, there have been sporadic breeding events in the 1940s on sea ice around Bornholm and in the 1980s and 1990s on haul-outs in Kattegat. In 2003, the first two pups in the southern Baltic Sea were recorded at Rødsand, Denmark. This is to date the only site in the southern Baltic Sea with regular annual pupping since the recolonisation. Since 2000, there have also been sporadic breeding events in Danish Kattegat, southern Sweden, Poland and Germany. At Rødsand, there have been at least 3–10 pups recorded every year since initiation of monitoring in 2011, with an increasing tendency until 2017 with 10 pups counted, which subsequently decreased to 5–6 pups annually in 2018–2020. Compared to recolonising events in the Atlantic, the numbers of pups are low. This may be caused by differences in population dynamics, recolonisation distances, habitat and mortality and effects of rehabilitation programmes. It is likely that the breeding distribution will spread throughout the southern Baltic, Danish Straits and Kattegat if appropriate protection measures of seals and haul-outs are installed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testing the hearing abilities of marine mammals under water is a challenging task. Sample sizes are usually low, thus limiting the ability to generalize findings of susceptibility towards noise influences. A method to measure harbor porpoise hearing thresholds in situ in outdoor conditions using auditory steady state responses of the brainstem was developed and tested. The method was used on 15 live-stranded animals from the North Sea during rehabilitation, shortly before release into the wild, and on 12 wild animals incidentally caught in pound nets in Denmark (inner Danish waters). Results indicated that although the variability between individuals is wide, the shape of the hearing curve is generally similar to previously published results from behavioral trials. Using 10-kHz frequency intervals between 10 and 160 kHz, best hearing was found between 120 and 130 kHz. Additional testing using one-third octave frequency intervals (from 16 to 160 kHz) allowed for a much faster hearing assessment, but eliminated the fine scale threshold characteristics. For further investigations, the method will be used to better understand the factors influencing sensitivity differences across individuals and to establish population-level parameters describing hearing abilities of harbor porpoises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents bioacoustic recordings in combination with movements and diving behavior of three free-ranging harbor porpoises (a female and two males) in Danish waters. Each porpoise was equipped with an acoustic data logger (A-tag), a time-depth-recorder, a VHF radio transmitter, and a satellite transmitter. The units were programmed to release after 24 or 72 h. Possible foraging occurred mostly near the surface or at the bottom of a dive. The porpoises showed individual diversity in biosonar activity (<100 to >50,000 clicks per hour) and in dive frequency (6-179 dives per hour). We confirm that wild harbor porpoises use more intense clicks than captive animals. A positive tendency between number of dives and clicks per hour was found for a subadult male, which stayed near shore. It showed a distinct day-night cycle with low echolocation rates during the day, but five times higher rates and higher dive activity at night. A female traveling in open waters showed no diel rhythm, but its sonar activity was three times higher compared to the males'. Considerable individual differences in dive and echolocation activity could have been influenced by biological and physical factors, but also show behavioral adaptability necessary for survival in a complex coastal environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unprecedented 85 harbour porpoises stranded freshly dead along approximately 100 km of Danish coastline from 7–15 April, 2005. This total is considerably above the mean weekly stranding rate for the whole of Denmark, both for any time of year, 1.23 animals/week (ranging from 0 to 20 during 2003–2008, excluding April 2005), and specifically in April, 0.65 animals/week (0 to 4, same period). Bycatch was established as the cause of death for most of the individuals through typical indications of fisheries interactions, including net markings in the skin and around the flippers, and loss of tail flukes. Local fishermen confirmed unusually large porpoise bycatch in nets set for lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) and the strandings were attributed to an early lumpfish season. However, lumpfish catches for 2005 were not unusual in terms of season onset, peak or total catch, when compared to 2003–2008. Consequently, human activity was combined with environmental factors and the variation in Danish fisheries landings (determined through a principal component analysis) in a two-part statistical model to assess the correlation of these factors with both the presence of fresh strandings and the numbers of strandings on the Danish west coast. The final statistical model (which was forward selected using Akaike information criterion; AIC) indicated that naval presence is correlated with higher rates of porpoise strandings, particularly in combination with certain fisheries, although it is not correlated with the actual presence of strandings. Military vessels from various countries were confirmed in the area from the 7th April, en route to the largest naval exercise in Danish waters to date (Loyal Mariner 2005, 11–28 April). Although sonar usage cannot be confirmed, it is likely that ships were testing various equipment prior to the main exercise. Thus naval activity cannot be ruled out as a possible contributing factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietz, R., Teilmann, J., Andersen S. M. Rigét, F., and Olsen, M. T. 2013. Movements and site fidelity of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in Kattegat, Denmark, with implications for the epidemiology of the phocine distemper virus. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70:186–195.Twenty-seven harbour seals were caught and tagged at the island of Anholt in central Kattegat, Denmark, the epicentre of the phocine distemper virus (PDV) outbreaks in 1988 and 2002 that killed 50–60% of the populations. The satellite tagging shows that harbour seals from Anholt moved widely across Kattegat with a maximum distance of 249 km from the tagging haul-out site. Overall, females travelled over a wider area compared with males [90% kernel home range (KHR) females, 5189 km2; males, 3293 km2). KHR calculated for yearlings (6414 km2) is larger than for subadults (2534 km2), which again is larger than for adult seals (1713 km2), showing a strong site fidelity, indicating limited gene flow between haul-out sites. Distances moved and home range sizes increased across autumn, peaked in February–March, and decreased through spring. During the breeding season in spring, all seals were very stationary around Anholt. The onset of the PDV epizootics in 1988 and 2002 took place when the Anholt harbour seals congregate on the Island during April. Anholt seal were also documented to have contact with infected seal locations at Hesselø, Læsø, and the Swedish west coast, although this contact takes place during winter prior to the documented summer outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates the effects of the construction and operation of a large Danish offshore wind farm on harbor and gray seal haul-out behavior within a nearby (4 km) seal sanctuary. Time-lapse photography, visual monitoring, and aerial surveys were used to monitor the number of seals on land in daylight hours. Seals were monitored during two preconstruction periods (19 June–31 August 2001 and April–August 2002), a construction period of the wind farm (August 2002–December 2003), and a period of operation of the wind farm (December 2003–December 2004). Monthly aerial surveys were conducted to estimate the proportion of seals in the sanctuary relative to neighboring haul-out sites. From preconstruction to construction and through the first year of operation the number of harbor seals in the sanctuary increased at the same rate as the number of seals at the neighboring haul-out sites. No long-term effects on haul-out behavior were found due to construction and operation of the wind farm. However, a significant short-term decrease was seen in the number of seals present on land during sheet pile driving in or near the wind farm. Acoustic deterrents were utilized simultaneously to avoid hearing damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andersen, S. M., Teilmann, J., Harders, P. B., Hansen, E. H., and Hjøllund, D. 2007. Diet of harbour seals and great cormorants in Limfjord, Denmark: interspecific competition and interaction with fishery. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 1235–1245. Comparative studies on seasonal and regional variation in the diet of harbour seals and great cormorants were conducted in Limfjord, a semi-closed water system in northwest Denmark. To compare harbour seal diet from an open water system containing similar prey species, a small diet analysis from the western Baltic is included. Seal diet during spring reflected the abundance of Atlantic herring entering Limfjord to spawn (90% of the weight consumed), whereas during summer and autumn, seal diet was rather more mixed. The diet of seals in the Rødsand area and cormorants in Limfjord showed no marked seasonal trends. During spring, there was little overlap between seal and cormorant diets in Limfjord because seals fed almost exclusively on Atlantic herring, and they consumed significantly larger herring than did the cormorants. During summer and autumn, seal and cormorant diets overlapped markedly, although the fish items consumed by seals were generally larger. Few commercially targeted species were found in the stomachs and scats of seals and casts of great cormorants, but Atlantic herring were taken by the seals at a size greater than that allowed by the fishery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Blood values of wild harbor porpoises compared with permanently kept indiviudals. • Season, sex, age and origin influenced the haematology and blood chemistry values. • Seasonality and the animal's physiological state are important to blood analysis. • Blood values are important baselines for environmental health indicators. Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Baltic Sea are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities, which affect the overall health of populations. Individuals' haematologic and biochemistry parameters are known to be linked to a population's health status and are therefore useful tools for cross-population comparisons and to assess health patterns of a population through time. However, it is often difficult to acquire data representing the full range of values and assess the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here, we present the range of haematology and blood chemistry values obtained from 46 wild (n = 54 blood samples) individuals incidentally caught in pound-nets and five porpoises in long-term human care (n = 449 blood samples) from an outdoor semi-open facility in Denmark. Although it was not possible to formally test the differences between samples from free-ranging and captive individuals, lymphocyte values were lower for free-ranging animals whereas eosinophils and white blood cell values were higher in captive individuals. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanin aminotransferase values were also lower for captive individuals compared to free-ranging ones. Age group did not influence any of the blood parameters tested for free-ranging individuals. Sodium values were higher for males compared to females. Values were higher and lower in the fall for platelets and lactic acid dehydrogenase, respectively, compared to the other seasons. Based on samples yielded by individuals in long-term human care, haemoglobin, mean cell volume, white blood cells, absolute lymphocyte count, and alkaline phosphatase values were all influenced by health status based on clinical examination. These are therefore candidate parameters to assess health status of wild porpoises. Our results underline that it is essential to obtain ranges of reference values for all haematologic and biochemistry markers in order to assess health status of free-ranging individuals. Individuals in human care provide the opportunity to observe biological and ecological determinates (e.g. age, season) of long-term biomarker response patterns and to assess the suite of biomarkers best suited to predict individual health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Spatial trends of concentrations of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) were investigated in harbour seal liver tissue from seven locations in Denmark, ranging from the Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea to the Western Baltic. All samples were collected during the phocine distemper epizootic in 2002 which provided access to a large number of comparable samples over a short time period. PFOS was dominating (mean: 92% of ∑PFC) among the PFCs in the samples, followed by considerably lower concentrations of PFHxS (1.8%), PFDA (1.7%), PFNA (1.6%) PFUnA (1.5%), PFOA (0.9%) and PFOSA (0.5%). The concentrations of all the investigated compounds showed significant differences among the seven locations. PFOS showed the highest concentrations in the Wadden Sea, where high burdens have also been recorded in German seals. Most compounds showed a trend towards higher concentrations at one or both extremes of the geographic range. Two different patterns of relative PFC concentrations were detected; one in the inner Danish waters where PFOSA and PFUnA were more prevalent and another in the Wadden Sea and Limfjord where PFOA, PFHxS and PFNA were found in greater proportions. These patterns probably represent Baltic and North Sea contamination sources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An unusual mass mortality event (MME) of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) occurred in Denmark and Sweden in June 2007. Prior to this incident, the region had experienced two MMEs in harbour seals caused by Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) in 1988 and 2002. Although epidemiology and symptoms of the 2007 MME resembled PDV, none of the animals examined for PDV tested positive. Thus, it has been speculated that another - yet unknown - pathogen caused the June 2007 MME. To shed new light on the likely cause of death, we combine previously unpublished veterinary examinations of harbour seals with novel analyses of algal toxins and algal monitoring data. All harbour seals subject to pathological examination showed pneumonia, but were negative for PDV, influenza and coronavirus. Histological analyses revealed septicaemia in multiple animals, and six animals tested positive for Klebsiella pneumonia. Furthermore, we detected the algal Dinophysis toxin DTX-1b (1-115 ng g -1 ) in five seals subject to toxicology, representing the first time DTX-1b has been detected in marine vertebrates. However, no animals tested positive for both Klebsiella and toxins. Thus, while our relatively small sample size prevent firm conclusions on causative agents, we speculate that the unexplained MME may have been caused by a chance incidence of multiple pathogens acting in parallel in June 2007, including Dinophysis toxin and Klebsiella. Our study illustrates the complexity of wildlife MMEs and highlights the need for thorough sampling during and after MMEs, as well as additional research on and monitoring of DTX-1b and other algal toxins in the region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they know of no competing financial- or personal relationships that could influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The 1988 and 2002 phocine distemper virus (PDV) outbreaks in European harbour seals Phoca vitulina are among the largest mass mortality events recorded in marine mammals. Despite its large impact on harbour seal population numbers, and 3 decades of studies, many questions regarding the spread and temporal origin of PDV remain unanswered. Here, we sequenced and analysed 7123 bp of the PDV genome, including the coding and non-coding regions of the entire P, M, F and H genes in tissues from 44 harbour seals to shed new light on the origin and spread of PDV in 1988 and 2002. The phylogenetic analyses trace the origin of the PDV strain causing the 1988 outbreak to between May 1987 and April 1988, while the origin of the strain causing the 2002 outbreak can be traced back to between June 2001 and May 2002. The analyses further point to several independent introductions of PDV in 1988, possibly linked to a southward mass immigration of harp seals in the winter and spring of 1987-1988. The vector for the 2002 outbreak is unknown, but the epidemiological analyses suggest the subsequent spread of PDV from the epicentre in the Kattegat, Denmark, to haul-out sites in the North Sea through several independent introductions.

Shipping is the dominant marine anthropogenic noise source in the world's oceans, yet we know little about vessel encounter rates, exposure levels and behavioural reactions for cetaceans in the wild, many of which rely on sound for foraging, communication and social interactions. Here, we used animal-borne acoustic tags to measure vessel noise exposure and foraging efforts in seven harbour porpoises in highly trafficked coastal waters. Tagged porpoises encountered vessel noise 17-89% of the time and occasional high-noise levels coincided with vigorous fluking, bottom diving, interrupted foraging and even cessation of echolocation, leading to significantly fewer prey capture attempts at received levels greater than 96 dB re 1 µPa (16 kHz third-octave). If such exposures occur frequently, porpoises, which have high metabolic requirements, may be unable to compensate energetically with negative long-term fitness consequences. That shipping noise disrupts foraging in the high-frequency-hearing porpoise raises concerns that other toothed whale species may also be affected., (© 2018 The Author(s).)

In recent years, several sound and movement recording tags have been developed to sample the acoustic field experienced by cetaceans and their reactions to it. However, little is known about how tag placement and an animal's orientation in the sound field affect the reliability of on-animal recordings as proxies for actual exposure. Here, we quantify sound exposure levels recorded with a DTAG-3 tag on a captive harbor porpoise exposed to vessel noise in a controlled acoustic environment. Results show that flow noise is limiting onboard noise recordings, whereas no evidence of body shading has been found for frequencies of 2-20 kHz.