The first Seal Observer workshop!

On Monday evening (26th of May), more than fifty nature enthusiasts joined in person in Gothenburg and more than 120 online for a Seal Observer workshop. The workshop was organized as a collaboration between Sälfie-ID, the University of Gothenburg, Slottsskogen Zoo, the Swedish Veterinary Agency (SVA), the Swedish Museum of Natural History (SMNH), and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

The next seal observer workshop will take place in the Autumn - you can register your interest here.

Topics covered included basic seal biology, how to recognize the three different seal species, how to assess if a seal is sick, watching seals without disturbance, and what to do if you see a seal that might be in trouble. There was also an exhibition explaining how we determine seal diets based on otoliths – fish ear stones – and seal teeth and whiskers lent by the Swedish Museum of Natural History and Gothenburg Natural History Museum.

Jess from the University of Gothenburg spoke about seal biology and health.

The idea now is that workshop attendees will join the Seal Observer Network. These will be people all over Sweden who can recognize a healthy seal and support their community in how to report sick or dead seals, as well as taking Sälfies of healthy seals without any disturbance! Through this network, we hope to support the national monitoring schemes run by SVA and SMNH and help keep our seas and our seal populations healthy.

The Sälfie-ID team excited to welcome the new Seal Observers.

The idea now is that workshop attendees will join the Seal Observer Network. These will be people all over Sweden who can recognize a healthy seal and support their community in how to report sick, stranded, or dead seals, as well as taking Sälfies of live seals without any disturbance! Through this network, we hope to support the national monitoring schemes run by SVA and SMNH and help keep our seas and our seal populations healthy.

We hope to run another workshop in the Autumn. Keep an eye on the Sälfie-ID website and register your interest if you want to become a Seal Observer in your community!

The workshop was funded by the Marie-Claire Cronstedt stiftelse.