Lithuania bids to save Baltic seals as ice sheets recede
'Mothers are forced to breed on land in high concentration with other seals,' said Vaida Surviliene, a scientist at Vilnius University. 'They are unable to recognize their cubs and often leave them because of it,' she said. Rearing cubs ashore also leaves them exposed to humans, other wild animals, rowdy males, as well as a higher risk of diseases, according to Arunas Grusas, a biologist at the center.
Employee Karina Lenko carries buckets with fish to be fed to seals at the Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Center.
Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool.
Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool.
Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool.
Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool.
Employees carry a grey seal pup for transportation by boat to the release site in Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Center in Klaipeda.--AFP photos
A grey seal pup looks on in an outdoor pool at the Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Center in Klaipeda before being transported by boat to the release site in the Baltic Sea in Klaipeda on July 2, 2025. Scientists at the seal rehabilitation centre in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda say only five percent of cubs survive in the wild, where they also face pollution and low fish stocks because of overfishing. The Baltic Sea, which is shared by the EU and Russia, now rarely freezes over because of climate change, depriving seals of sanctuaries to rear their cubs. (Photo by Petras Malukas / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY BENAS GERDZIUNAS
'It was a sensation'
Grusas began caring for seals in 1987 when he brought the first pup back to his office at the Klaipeda Sea Museum, which now oversees the new rehabilitation center built in 2022. 'We taught them how to feed themselves, got them used to the water –- they had to get comfortable with the sea, which spat them out ashore practically dying,' Grusas said. The very first cubs were placed into makeshift baths set up in an office.
'It was a sensation for us, there were practically no seals left then,' Grusas said. The scientists had to learn how to nurse the cubs back to health. First, the cubs were treated to liquid formula before moving onto solid food. At the time in the late 1980s, the seals were close to extinction –- there were just around 4,000 to 5,000 left in the sea from a population of around 100,000 before the Second World War. 'The population began to decrease drastically in the 1950s due to hunting amid competition with fishers,' said Surviliene.
A stockman tries to move a grey seal pup in a transportation net.
Employees move transportation boxes carrying grey seal pups on a boat before setting off for the release site in the Baltic Sea in Klaipeda.
A grey seal pup looks out from a transportation box before being released in the Baltic Sea 20 km from Klaipeda.
Boxes carrying grey seal pups are stacked on a boat before being released in the Baltic Sea.
A grey seal swims in the sea after being released from a boat in the Baltic Sea.
A grey seal swims in the sea after being released from a boat in the Baltic Sea.
'Nothing left to eat'
The 1960s also saw the use of pesticides in agriculture that were 'incredibly toxic for predators', the scientist said. The seals at the top of the food chain in the Baltic Sea absorbed the pollution, leaving the females infertile and the entire population with a weak immune system, unable to ward off parasites and resist infections.
After a ban on toxic pesticide use, the population survived, with the current estimates putting the number of grey seals in the Baltic Sea at 50,000 to 60,000. In a response to overfishing, the European Commission also finally banned commercial cod fishing in the eastern Baltic Sea in 2019.
'Over 80 percent of fish resources in the Baltic Sea have been destroyed, the seals have nothing left to eat,' said Grusas. The ban has yet to show a positive result. 'There has been no fishing of eastern Baltic cod for around five years, but it's not yet recovering -- and it's one of the main sources of food' for the seals, said Darius Daunys, a scientist at Klaipeda University.
Recently a growing number of adult seals have been washing up on Lithuanian beaches. Scientists like Grusas point the finger at near-shore fishing nets, where seals desperate for food end up entangled and ultimately drown.
'Tired of the tension'
Out in the Baltic Sea, the nine released seals took their first swim in the wild. Previously, GPS trackers showed they favored a route north toward the Swedish Gotland Island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, where fish are more plentiful. Others, however, needed a gentle push from the biologists. In previous years, the released seals would even follow the boat back to shore, scared to venture off alone. Eventually they all find their way in the wild.
Grusas is now preparing to retire after dedicating his life to saving animals. He will leave at a time when the grey Baltic seal population has stabilized, but remains highly vulnerable. 'I've spent my whole life with seals,' he said. 'I'm tired of the tension –- you just don't know what can happen to them.' — AFP
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Kuwait Times
7 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Lithuania bids to save Baltic seals as ice sheets recede
The grey seals slide out of their cages into the Baltic Sea near the Lithuanian coast, swimming off to new lives imperiled by climate change, pollution and shrinking fish stocks. The seals have been nurtured at a rehabilitation center in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. Survival rates for cubs in the wild can be as low as five percent, according to local scientists. The Baltic Sea, which is shared by the European Union and Russia, rarely freezes over now, depriving seals of sanctuaries to rear their cubs. 'Mothers are forced to breed on land in high concentration with other seals,' said Vaida Surviliene, a scientist at Vilnius University. 'They are unable to recognize their cubs and often leave them because of it,' she said. Rearing cubs ashore also leaves them exposed to humans, other wild animals, rowdy males, as well as a higher risk of diseases, according to Arunas Grusas, a biologist at the center. Employee Karina Lenko carries buckets with fish to be fed to seals at the Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Center. Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool. Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool. Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool. Grey seal pups are fed fish in an outdoor pool. Employees carry a grey seal pup for transportation by boat to the release site in Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Center in Klaipeda.--AFP photos A grey seal pup looks on in an outdoor pool at the Baltic Sea Animal Rehabilitation Center in Klaipeda before being transported by boat to the release site in the Baltic Sea in Klaipeda on July 2, 2025. Scientists at the seal rehabilitation centre in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda say only five percent of cubs survive in the wild, where they also face pollution and low fish stocks because of overfishing. The Baltic Sea, which is shared by the EU and Russia, now rarely freezes over because of climate change, depriving seals of sanctuaries to rear their cubs. (Photo by Petras Malukas / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY BENAS GERDZIUNAS 'It was a sensation' Grusas began caring for seals in 1987 when he brought the first pup back to his office at the Klaipeda Sea Museum, which now oversees the new rehabilitation center built in 2022. 'We taught them how to feed themselves, got them used to the water –- they had to get comfortable with the sea, which spat them out ashore practically dying,' Grusas said. The very first cubs were placed into makeshift baths set up in an office. 'It was a sensation for us, there were practically no seals left then,' Grusas said. The scientists had to learn how to nurse the cubs back to health. First, the cubs were treated to liquid formula before moving onto solid food. At the time in the late 1980s, the seals were close to extinction –- there were just around 4,000 to 5,000 left in the sea from a population of around 100,000 before the Second World War. 'The population began to decrease drastically in the 1950s due to hunting amid competition with fishers,' said Surviliene. A stockman tries to move a grey seal pup in a transportation net. Employees move transportation boxes carrying grey seal pups on a boat before setting off for the release site in the Baltic Sea in Klaipeda. A grey seal pup looks out from a transportation box before being released in the Baltic Sea 20 km from Klaipeda. Boxes carrying grey seal pups are stacked on a boat before being released in the Baltic Sea. A grey seal swims in the sea after being released from a boat in the Baltic Sea. A grey seal swims in the sea after being released from a boat in the Baltic Sea. 'Nothing left to eat' The 1960s also saw the use of pesticides in agriculture that were 'incredibly toxic for predators', the scientist said. The seals at the top of the food chain in the Baltic Sea absorbed the pollution, leaving the females infertile and the entire population with a weak immune system, unable to ward off parasites and resist infections. After a ban on toxic pesticide use, the population survived, with the current estimates putting the number of grey seals in the Baltic Sea at 50,000 to 60,000. In a response to overfishing, the European Commission also finally banned commercial cod fishing in the eastern Baltic Sea in 2019. 'Over 80 percent of fish resources in the Baltic Sea have been destroyed, the seals have nothing left to eat,' said Grusas. The ban has yet to show a positive result. 'There has been no fishing of eastern Baltic cod for around five years, but it's not yet recovering -- and it's one of the main sources of food' for the seals, said Darius Daunys, a scientist at Klaipeda University. Recently a growing number of adult seals have been washing up on Lithuanian beaches. Scientists like Grusas point the finger at near-shore fishing nets, where seals desperate for food end up entangled and ultimately drown. 'Tired of the tension' Out in the Baltic Sea, the nine released seals took their first swim in the wild. Previously, GPS trackers showed they favored a route north toward the Swedish Gotland Island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, where fish are more plentiful. Others, however, needed a gentle push from the biologists. In previous years, the released seals would even follow the boat back to shore, scared to venture off alone. Eventually they all find their way in the wild. Grusas is now preparing to retire after dedicating his life to saving animals. He will leave at a time when the grey Baltic seal population has stabilized, but remains highly vulnerable. 'I've spent my whole life with seals,' he said. 'I'm tired of the tension –- you just don't know what can happen to them.' — AFP
Kuwait Times
4 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Polar bear biopsies to shed light on Arctic pollutants
With one foot braced on the helicopter's landing skid, a veterinarian lifted his air rifle, took aim and fired a tranquillizer dart at a polar bear. The predator bolted but soon slumped into the snowdrifts, its broad frame motionless beneath the Arctic sky. The dramatic pursuit formed part of a pioneering research mission in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, where scientists, for the first time, took fat tissue biopsies from polar bears to study the impact of pollutants on their health. The expedition came at a time when the Arctic region was warming at four times the global average, putting mounting pressure on the iconic predators as their sea-ice habitat shrank. 'The idea is to show as accurately as possible how the bears live in the wild - but in a lab,' Laura Pirard, a Belgian toxicologist, told AFP. 'To do this, we take their (fatty) tissue, cut it in very thin slices and expose it to the stresses they face, in other words pollutants and stress hormones,' said Pirard, who developed the method. Moments after the bear collapsed, the chopper circled back and landed. Researchers spilled out, boots crunching on the snow. One knelt by the bear's flank, cutting thin strips of fatty tissue. Another drew blood. Each sample was sealed and labelled before the bear was fitted with a satellite collar. Scientists said that while the study monitors all the bears, only females were tracked with GPS collars as their necks are smaller than their heads - unlike males, who cannot keep a collar on for more than a few minutes. This photograph taken with a thermical-infrared camera shows the head of the Polar Bear Program Jon Aars (right) changing the GPS collar of a female polar bear, in front of Norwegian veterinarian Rolf Arne Olberg (right) measuring a big polar bear male (left) in eastern Spitzbergen.--AFP French scientist Marie-Anne Blanchet (right) and Norwegian scientist Magnus Andersen take a badipose biopsie on a just sedated big polar bear male, in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago. French spatial scientist Marie-Anne Blanchet examines bear cubs before taking adipose tissue biopsies and blood samples from their sedated mother. French scientist Marie-Anne Blanchet (right) and Norwegian scientist Magnus Andersen take a badipose biopsie on a just sedated big polar bear male. French scientist Marie-Anne Blanchet walks past a helicopter as she brings biopsies in a thermos to the toxicolgists onboard "Kronprins Haakon" vessel. Belgian toxicologist Laura Pirard (right), specialized in marine mammals, tests the 'Slice' method on polar bear adipose tissue biopsies, with Finnnish toxicologist specialized in marine mammals, Heli Routti (left), in a laboratory onboard the science icebreaking vessel 'Kronprins Haakon' while sailing in eastern Spitzbergen. Belgian toxicologist Laura Pirard, specialized in marine mammals, shows biopsy slices samples of polar bears adipose tissue, in a laboratory onboard the science icebreaker vessel 'Kronprins Haakon'. The head of the Polar Bear Program, Jon Aars (second right) from Norway adresses a briefing to scientists, Marie-Anne Blanchet (second left) from France, Laura Pirard (top left) from Belgium, Sofie Soderstrom from Sweden, helicopter pilot Stig Folid (right) from Norway and helicopter mechanic Elias birkeflet (left) from Norway, in eastern Spitzbergen, while sailing to the Svalbard archipelago onboard the 'Kronprins Haakon'. This photograph shows a sedated female polar bear with a GPS collar and her two cubs. This photograph shows blood samples of polar bears. This photograph shows two adipose biopsies of polar bears. This photograph shows the scientific ice-going vessel "Kronprins Haakon" sailing through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen. This photograph shows a helicopter looking for traces of polar bears near glaciers. A male polar bear bear walks on the sea ice near glaciers. Finnnish toxicologist specialized in marine mammals Heli Routti poses in the Scientific Ice going vessel "Kronprins Haakon". Arctic lab For the scientists aboard the Norwegian Polar Institute's research vessel Kronprins Haakon, these fleeting encounters were the culmination of months of planning and decades of Arctic fieldwork. In a makeshift lab on the icebreaker, samples remained usable for several days, subjected to controlled doses of pollutants and hormones before being frozen for further analysis back on land. Each tissue fragment gave Pirard and her colleagues insight into the health of an animal that spent much of its life on sea ice. Analysis of the fat samples showed that the main pollutants present were per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - synthetic chemicals used in industry and consumer goods that linger in the environment for decades. Despite years of exposure, Svalbard's polar bears showed no signs of emaciation or ill health, according to the team. The local population has remained stable or even increased slightly, unlike parts of Canada, where the Western Hudson Bay group declined by 27 percent between 2016 and 2021, from 842 to 618 bears, according to a government aerial survey. Other populations in the Canadian Arctic, including the Southern Beaufort Sea, have also shown long-term declines linked to reduced prey access and longer ice-free seasons. Scientists estimate there are around 300 polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago and roughly 2,000 in the broader region stretching from the North Pole to the Barents Sea. The team found no direct link between sea ice loss and higher concentrations of pollutants in Svalbard's bears. Instead, differences in pollutant levels came down to the bears' diet. Two types of bears - sedentary and pelagic - feed on different prey, leading to different chemicals building up in their bodies. Changing diet With reduced sea ice, the bears' diets have already started shifting, researchers said. These behavioral adaptations appeared to help maintain the population's health. 'They still hunt seals but they also take reindeer (and) eggs. They even eat grass (seaweed), even though that has no energy for them,' Jon Aars, the head of the Svalbard polar bear program, told AFP. 'If they have very little sea ice, they necessarily need to be on land,' he said, adding that they spend 'much more time on land than they used to... 20 or 30 years ago'. This season alone, Aars and his team of marine toxicologists and spatial behavior experts captured 53 bears, fitted 17 satellite collars, and tracked 10 mothers with cubs or yearlings. 'We had a good season,' Aars said. The team's innovations go beyond biopsies. Last year, they attached small 'health log' cylinders to five females, recording their pulse and temperature. Combined with GPS data, the devices offer a detailed record of how the bears roam, how they rest and what they endure. Polar bears were once hunted freely across Svalbard but since an international protection agreement in 1976, the population here has slowly recovered. The team's findings may help explain how the bears' world is changing, and at an alarming rate. As the light faded and the icebreaker's engines hummed against the vast silence, the team packed away their tools, leaving the Arctic wilderness to its inhabitants. — AFP
Kuwait Times
16-07-2025
- Kuwait Times
Bull sharks linger in warming Sydney waters
Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year. The predators are migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney's long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland. A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor. Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney's coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz. 'If they're staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them.' Bull sharks gather to inspect a group of divers and a bait box that has caught their attending off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites, and tiger sharks, according to a national database. There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death. Researchers found an average warming of 0.57C in Bondi for the October-May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science of The Total Environment. Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an average 0.67C between 1982 and 2024, they said. Bull sharks 'year-round' 'If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales,' Lubitz said. 'So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney,' he added. 'While the chances of a shark bite, and shark bites in Australia in general, remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney.' Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south. There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said. Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations.—AFP This handout image released by Simon Fraser University/James Cook University shows bull sharks in the waters off Fiji. --AFP photos
