Seals, cormorants and international cooperation

International Cooperation to ease the effects of seals and cormorants on the fishery

The coastal FLAG groups in Finland have been the actively participating in spreading information about the condition of coastal fishing in Finland. Seals and cormorants has been posing an increasing threat to sustainable commercial fishing at our coasts for a couple of decades. At the moment it regarded by most as the key reason to the degradation of the coastal fishing industry.

The problem is not recognized only on the Finnish coasts but around the Baltic sea. There have been different kinds of national and international efforts to solve the problem. This page aims to present some of those efforts, to conclude the problem and the key issues that are holding back its resolution.

How it started and what caused the intensity of the impact?

The cormorant is a returning species. It was not seen here for a hundred years until its return in 1996. Ten pairs were recorded then, but in 2019 counts showed 25,700 nests in Finnish waters. The return was partly due to the improvement of the Baltic Sea environment and the EU Directive, which protected the species. The species was recovering also elsewhere in Europe, particularly in Denmark and Sweden, from where the birds spread back to Finland. The rapid population rise started in the 2000s.

The grey seal populations in the Baltic Sea plummeted in the mid-20th century due to hunting and environmental pollution. However, international protection agreements, like the EU’s Habitats Directive and the Helsinki Convention, have played a crucial role in their recovery. These regulations banned seal hunting and implemented measures to reduce pollution, allowing grey seal populations to rebound since the 1980s. Reducing pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and DDT, which harmed seals’ reproductive abilities, has been key in population recovery.

A full-grown grey seal eats, on average, five to eight kilos of fish a day, and the Baltic ringed seal an average of 3.5 kilos a day. It is estimated that they consume around 30 – 75 million kilos of fish in the Finnish coastal water every year. A cormorant on the other hand eats about half a kilo of fish a day. With around 14 000 pairs of cormorants nesting in the Finnish coastal area, three million kilos of fish goes to their consumption every year. In comparison the yearly total catch of the Finnish coastal fishing tends to be around 10 – 15 million kilos of fish (of which roughly 50% consists of herring).

However the straight effect on the fish stock is only a part of the challenge. Both seals and cormorants have been noted to 1) damage the fishing gear, tear nets etc. 2) damage the trapped catch, thus making the fish unsaleable 3) remove the fish from fishing gear, 4) make the fish escape from fishing grounds and affect their behaviour, 5) to cause changes in the fish stocks. The effects of seals and cormorants to fishing is widely known at the coast, The damages are around €20.000 annually, making fishing largely unprofitable. It has been noted that seals can take up to 90% of the catch.

The current situation and the future of coastal fishing in Finland

Today, the cormorant population is stable, but it varies from region to region. The cormorant is still a protected species in Finland, but due to problems caused by population growth, population control measures have been introduced in certain areas. This includes the destruction of nests and the use of other bird deterrents. The birds affect the fishing activities depending on the location of their colonies. The effect may be very intense in a given area from year to year. When the birds move the fish stock is slow to recover and it may take several years for some fish species to be reintroduced to the area.

At the moment fish have largely fled the seals to shallower areas where they have better shelter. Fishing has also moved away from deep areas to mitigate losses. From time to time, seals also cause losses to fisheries in shallow waters. Some fishermen check their traps twice a day, while others set the traps at sunset and lift them up at sunrise in order to avoid the seals. However in shallow water trapped fish are often battered by gulls, and some seals seem not to avoid shallow water at all.

The situation is obviously very difficult and keeping the profession economically sustainable is not an easy job. Thus the amount of fishermen has declined drastically since the beginning of the millenia. For example on the south coast of Finland the amount of professional fishermen has declined from almost 200 to 45 in twenty years. The fishermen are aging and there are only few newcomers who are willing to battle with the present situation.

One of the most difficult facts is that there is still no consensus between the fishermen, researchers, environmental groups and the common population on what should be done. Fishermen wished to be able go fishing without the worry that the catch or their traps might be ruined by seals and cormorants. Researchers, depending on which point of view they look from, find themselves often in contradictory positions. From the point of view of the small scale blue economies and local food production it is inevitable to conclude that measures to reduce the amount of seals should be taken – or at least their access to the bays where fishing activities can still be carried out should be well blocked. When focusing on the seal populations, it seems that the current hunting measures are strong enough to pose a possible threat to the seals in the future. (https://www.gu.se/en/news/scientists-warn-the-grey-seal-hunt-is-too-large)

The common people fall into the most confusing position. According to surveys, most Finnish people wished to have more locally sourced fish on their plate. Thanks to the uniform messaging from all parties considered, people have become increasingly more conscious about how the environmental impact of their diet during the recent years. Still the many same environmentally conscious people wished the seemingly cute seals not be harmed, while ornitologists celebrate the rise of the long impaired cormorant populations. The contradictory position is not evident to many people, as the fishing happens ”out there”, out of the eyes of the public. Many of the same people however ingest the fact that the moose populations in our forests have to be controlled with hunting to mitigate their effects on forestry, causing traffic accidents and to sustain population health. Much like moose, the seal has no natural predators.

The situation is inevitably unsustainable in a long run and not beneficial even to the seal itself as pests (such as phocine distemper virus) and malnutrition affects the individuals in dense populations. There have been sights of low bodyweight individuals in most populated seal colonies on the Finnish coast. It is also questioned whether their indiscreet migration to shallow interior archipelago is their desperate attempt to find food among overpopulation. These questions remain to be answered. However it has already been witnessed that there can’t be a sustainable future for the coastal fishing if the seal population is left with no proper management plan. The parties concerned should come together as one and create an uniform view on the issue so that the future of seals, cormorants, fishing and other activities would be sustained in a healthy balance. After all it is the benefit of all parties to have a well functioning diverse ecosystem that provides services to its caretaker.

Key hinderances and compensation

Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009 bans the trade of seal products within the EU, with specific exceptions for indigenous subsistence hunting and non-commercial marine resource management. It was enacted primarily in response to concerns about inhumane hunting practices and animal welfare. This makes the already difficult seal hunting even less appealing. At the moment only around 50% of the issued hunting lisences are used. The number could be even lower than this, depending on weather conditions. In recent years, the ice cover has been so poor that it has been very difficult to use the issued quotas in the southern areas of Finnish territorial waters.

Cormorants are protected under the EU Birds Directive (Council Directive 2009/147/EC), which mandates the protection of all wild bird species within the European Union, including their eggs, nests, and habitats. Finland, as an EU member, adheres to these regulations. The directive aims to conserve populations of native birds and restrict hunting or culling. Due to the conflicts with fisheries, authorities grant exceptions for limited population control. Several hundred cormorants are culled every year with these permissions depending on the level of the conflict.

Professional fishermen are paid 15% of the calculated value of their catches, known as the seal precautionary allowance. This compensation is intended to cover the economic losses caused by seals. It is paid to fishermen with an annual turnover of more than €10 000. They also get compensation of 250 € for removing a disturbing male seal, (+ 100 € for transport and 150 € from burial). The compensations are welcome, but in general fishermen wished to be out fishing – providing food for the people, rather than filling documents for government support. It thus no wonder that the seal quotas left to be filled.

In addition to the seal precautionary allowance and removal of male individuals, fishermen can get 80% support from the EMFF (European Maritime and Fisheries Fund) for their investments in seal proof fishing equipment.

Research and studies

There is little research on the effects of seals and cormorants on the commercial fishing industry as such. FLAG (Fishing Local Action Group) groups around the Baltic Sea were one of the first ones to respond to the alarmed fishermen. Together with 14 FLAGs a Baltic Sea Seal and Cormorant TNC project was established. The project included units from Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Germany to investigate the economic and social impacts of increasing seal and cormorant populations on Baltic small-scale coastal fisheries. The project aimed to find and develop sustainable marine resources management solutions to ensure the future of small-scale fisheries in the  Baltic Sea area.

A study report about the results was produced in collaboration with the Finnish Natural Reserves Institute: The impacts of seals and
cormorants experienced by Baltic Sea commercial fishers

Other research and projects:

ECOSEAL Baltic seals – balancing between sustainable ecosystem management and fisheries

Research in Finnish:

Hylkeiden ja merimetson vaikutukset kalastuselinkeinoon (2024)

Presentations from the TNC Seals and Cormorants project

Recommendations to tackle the problem

Finnish coastal FLAG groups are always out for look to find solutions to help solve the problem and cooperate in joint efforts to bring up the issue and its effects on the coastal livelihoods. International cooperation is needed as the problem doesn’t concern only Finland but all the coastal nations around Baltic Sea – as well as our collaborators on the other side of the Atlantic. Let’s keep our eyes open for common possibilities and keep moving forward as one.