2018-06-28

CCB position on grey seals in the Baltic Sea

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).

Read our full position here.