Source
Loss of Habitat
Breeding herds of seals were originally found mainly on the offshore islands around the coast of Southern Africa. Sealing was introduced in the early 17th century, and by the late 1800’s, 23 colonies had been destroyed and the population of these species was exploited to the point where the numbers were heavily depleted. Most of the colonies sought refuge on the mainland. Some of the islands were turned in to breeding colonies for seabirds and seals are still killed should they come close to these breeding colonies. Other islands are empty and no effort has been made to implement a programme where seals are reintroduced to these spaces. Currently only 10% of their natural habitat is being utilized and because of human interference, 80% of pups are now born on the mainland.
The result of the loss of habitat has lead to overcrowding on the little bit of space they do inhabit. The competition for space leads to a high mortality rate as weaker seal, older seals and young pups are crushed or pushed off the rocks; washed off or blown in to the sea. Those who are pushed off, washed off or blown off either drown or are eaten by sharks. Each pupping season (several weeks during summer), hundreds of dead pups can be found washing up on our shores or floating in the water. A handful of “lucky†ones may wash up on beaches, exhausted and/or injured, only to be pestered by humans and dogs. Currently, there are no facilities to help these survivors.
Fishing Community
Sealing most definitely altered the natural ecological path of seals, and because seals have been “banned†from most of their natural habitat, they have also lost some of their usual “hunting†ground. The Cape Fur seal are notorious scavengers and often steal fish from nets, which doesn’t endear them with the fishing community. With global fish stocks rapidly depleting, competition for food between seal and human is more than often lethal. There is no love lost between the two competitors and seals unfortunately are shot illegally, clubbed and killed by fishermen. Seals are the only animal that competes with the fishing industry for commercial fish. Recent observations from fishing vessels have shown that seals have little effect on either bottom-trawling or purse-seine (for shoaling fish) operations, in contrast with the claims of fishermen. Line fishermen do sometimes lose a large portion of their catch to seals.
Harbours are a source of fast food for seals. Fishermen often dump the innards of cleaned fish overboard, which brings the seals in direct contact with their biggest enemy.
Starvation
As mentioned above, fish stocks are rapidly depleting and in Namibia specifically, mass starvation is not uncommon.
Entanglement
Because of the competition between humans and seals for food, and seals trying to “steal†food from nets, these animals easily get entangled in fishing nets. This can cause injury and in most cases, death. Debris in harbours, such as strapping from boxes or rope, can also cause entanglement. The rope and strapping cut deep in to the body of the seals, and because it is not removed, eventually grows in to the skin of the animal. This can cause infection and in a lot of cases the animals are slowly strangled to death. In some cases, the seals flippers are pinned to their body, causing them to drown. Again, there are no programmes in place to prevent littering in harbours, and there are no disentanglement teams which could help these animals.
Cape Fur Seal Pup Caught in a Net ..
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