CCB position on grey seals in the Baltic Sea

CCB • June 28, 2018

The grey seal count for 2017 in the Baltic Sea was above 30 000 individuals. According to the IUCN, the counted animals are thought to be 60-80% of the total population, given that not all seals are on land during the count. Even before the Second World War, the size of the Baltic grey seal population was estimated at around 100 000 individuals ( Rydén et al. 2003 , Kauhala et al 2014 ).

Densities are generally greater in the northern Baltic Sea than in the southern Baltic Sea ( HELCOM SEAL 2017). The count for central Sweden and southwestern Finnish archipelago was close to 20000 animals in total in 2014, while the count for southern Sweden/Danish Baltic Sea area was approximately 2500. The estimate for the German Baltic is approximately 100 animals, and for Poland around 400 animals. Restoration of the Polish population of the grey seal is the result of many years of efforts of the Hel Marine Station of the University of Gdańsk, conducting a reintroduction program of this species on the Polish coast.

In line with Art. 14-16 of the EU Habitats Directive , hunt on specific seal populations can be allowed, under strict conditions, provided that the conservation status of the population is monitored to ensure that it is maintained at a favourable conservation status. Based on this, grey seal hunt is only allowed in Sweden (600 animals), Finland (1050), Åland (450), Estonia (37) and Denmark (only Bornholm, 40).

However within 2017-2018 several incidents of suspected deliberate illegal killing of grey seals were observed in Lithuania (26), Germany (23-27, Rugen), Finland (2, Hamina), Poland (>10, Eastern Pomerania) and Russia (3, Kaliningrad). In Finland, entangled seals were abandoned at sea with a gear. In many cases, human efforts to remove predators have led to ecosystem effects that were not intended ( Lennox et al. 2018 ). There is a great risk that increased killings of grey seal in the Baltic Sea will have effects on the already beset Baltic ecosystem, that we cannot foresee today.

CCB position with these regards is as follows:

  1. Un-authorized killing and especially committing alleged violations of seals hunt ban (including grey seal) is a crime!
  2. Regulation of grey seal population as an extraordinary measure can be acceptable only in cases of grey seal density being confirmed to be above safe ecological level.
  3. Authorities must thoroughly investigate all cases of suspected killing of seals and prosecute the convicted.
  4. Adequate measures minimising loss of seals’ population (e.g. bycatch, pollution and illegal hunt) must be taken.

 

21 June 2018 – Release of rehabilitated seals to the sea, Kaliningrad, Russia (Photo credit: Svetlana Sokolova, Director of Kaliningrad Zoo)

 

26 May 2018 – Gdynia, Poland (Photo credit: WWF Poland)

CCB is looking for a Network Officer to join our team at the CCB International Secretariat

By CCB • April 9, 2025
Coalition Clean Baltic – CCB is a politically independent network, uniting 27 environmental non-profit organizations, as well as partners and experts from 11 countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The main goal of CCB is to promote the protection and improvement of the environment and natural resources of the Baltic Sea region by encouraging new and constructive approaches and engaging people to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. CCB Secretariat is based in Uppsala, Sweden.

Attacks on NGOs: 570+ Organisations Join Forces to Defend Civil Society

By CCB • April 7, 2025
European civil society organisations (CSOs) are currently facing an attack coming from certain Members of the European Parliament. Spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by far-right groups, this attack resorts to misleading arguments to fabricate a scandal. This portrayal has been amplified through the media, with notable exceptions of articles that attempted to clarify this misleading narrative. European CSOs are crucial to ensure the voices of citizens from different parts of Europe are heard in the EU institutions. Attacks against civil society are unfortunately not new and are exacerbated by this harmful idea. Furthermore, for-profit corporate lobbying is through the roof when compared to non-profit advocacy. In 2024, the 50 corporations with the largest lobbying budgets collectively spent nearly €200 million on lobbying the EU alone (66% more than in 2015). Comparing this to the funding environmental NGOs receive under the LIFE programme - €15.6 million annually of a €700 million yearly budget - truly shows the weakness of this ‘scandal’. This is why over 570 civil society organisations from 40 countries, including all EU Member States, have joined forces to call on those in power to act now and ensure that civil society is adequately funded and enabled to share our crucial perspectives . In this statement, we address: The source of this false narrative; Inaccurate claims made about how CSOs obtain and use funding; Why it’s paramount that CSOs receive sufficient funding; The need for civil dialogue to enable CSOs participation. Democracy is about the right of citizens to be collectively heard for building an inclusive society and a shared European future; properly funded independent CSOs are a crucial tool for that. We call on decision-makers to ensure civil society organisations can thrive and play their role in interacting with policy-makers in order to have a more fully informed decision-making process. Read the full statement here . -END Civil Society Europe (CSE) is the coordination of civil society organisations at EU level. Through its membership, CSE unites EU-level membership-based organisations that reach out to millions of people active in or supported by not-for-profits and civil society organisations across the EU. CSE was created by several civil society organisations as a follow-up to the European Year of Citizens and was established as an international not-for-profit under Belgian law in 2016. Since then, it has become the point of reference for EU institutions on transversal issues concerning civil dialogue and civic space.