We have three different seal species, read more about them here
When the seal population had collapsed around 1980 and was almost completely extinct, the authorities put an end to all hunting. Seal protection areas were established, and all three species found along our coasts were protected. At the same time, we received EU directives to reduce emissions of DDT and PCBs. It led to the recovery of all three seal tribes.
Until they became so numerous that they began to encroach on human territory, and we started to hunt them again.
In ten short features, with graphics and interviews with researchers and authorities, we deepen the issue. But who are they? Here are some facts.
The gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) is the largest and most common of Sweden’s three seal species. It is mainly found in the Baltic Sea, but single individuals have also been seen on the west coast.
Adult gray seal males can be up to 3 meters long and weigh just over 300 kilograms. The females are considerably smaller and can weigh a maximum of 200 kilos. Males have a dark grey, brown, or black fur with lighter spots. The females, and young animals, are light gray with dark spots.
They can dive down to a depth of several hundred meters and live mostly on schooling fish and bottom-dwelling species such as kelp and flounder. But they can also take other fish such as salmon, whitefish and cod.
The pups are born between February and March and preferably on the ice. The newborn pups have a white wooly coat that they sheds when they stops nursing, which is after just under 3 weeks. The young seal has then put on 30 kilos and after that it has to fend for itself.
Around the turn of 1900, there were between 80 – 100,000 gray seals in the Baltic Sea. Then it was intensively hunted, both for its skin and the fat, which was used, among other things, to mix into paint and in oil lamps.
General hunting was banned in 1974, by which time the population had decreased drastically, both due to hunting and due to environmental toxins in the Baltic Sea that made the female seals sterile. The gray seal has recovered and today there are roughly 30,000 gray seals in the Baltic Sea and license hunting for them is again permitted.
So far this year (November 2023), 707 gray seals have been shot, out of the permitted 1,500. The hunting period for gray seals lasts until January 15, 2024.
Source: Sea and Water Authority (HaV)
Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are mainly found along the Swedish west coast. The Baltic Sea has a small and unique population at Kalmarsund.
The males can be 1.7 meters long and weigh up to 140 kilograms. The females are a little bit smaller. The coat is light to dark gray mottled.
They eat about 30 different species of fish. They can hunt in the dark and dive down to a depth of a couple of hundred meters.
The females give birth to a pup around midsummer. The seal pups can swim and dive directly, unlike other seal species pups that are born with a woolly coat that they later shed.
They are nursed for 3 to 4 weeks and then have to fend for themselves. They can live up to 35 years, with females usually being the oldest.
We have historically hunted a lot of harbor seals. At the end of the 19th century, there was a bounty on harbor seals, and the stocks declined significantly after that. In 1974 the harbor seal was declared protected, but today we once again have license hunting for harbor seals.
Globally, it is estimated that there are 350,000 to 500,000 of the species. It is assessed as viable but is threatened in some regions and hunting for harbor seals is today illegal in most regions – except in Sweden.
In this year’s hunt, 112 harbor seals have been shot so far (November 2023) out of the permitted 630. The hunting period lasts until April 19, 2024.
Source: Sea and Water Authority (HaV)
The Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) is an arctic species that remained in the Baltic Sea after the last ice age 12,000 years ago. The Ringed seal is completely dependent on the ice settling down so that they can give birth to their pups.
It is our smallest seal species but looks similar to the harbor seal but has a slightly rounder body and a slightly smaller head. At most, it can be 1.4 meters long and weigh around 110 kilograms. Adult seals have a dark coat with irregularly scattered lighter rings.
They mostly eat smaller crustaceans such as roach and fish such as sprats and flounder.
The females give birth to a young (cub) around February, March. They establish underwater territories in the compact drift ice and excavate breathing holes and protective snow caves in the pack ice banks.
When the cubs are born, it has a woolly coat which means they must stay up on the ice before changing their coat. The cubs are nursed for 3 to 8 weeks and are then left to fend for themselves.
Ringed seals can live up to 50 years.
Around the beginning of the 20th century, there were approximately 180,000 ringed seals in the Baltic Sea. Due to heavy hunting pressure and later extensive environmental toxins in the sea that made the females sterile, 1985 the number of ringed seals decreased to about 5,000.
Today, it is estimated that there are around 17,000 ringed seals together in the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, and the Gulf of Riga. Protective hunting of ringed seals is now permitted again.
Source: Sea and Water Authority (HaV)