§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many coastal sites have seal populations; and how many have been lost in the last five years.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettWe are advised by the Natural Environment Research Council that the last comprehensive survey of grey seals along the Welsh coastline was undertaken in 1974. This showed that although there was a concentration of seals on and around the islands of Ramsey and Skomer, Pembrokeshire generally seals were spread widely along beaches and in small caves along the Welsh coastline. It is therefore not possible to define specific "coastal sites" in Wales or to say how many there were or whether any have been lost in the last five years. The study concentrated on grey seals, as the common seal does not occur in the coastal waters around Wales.
However, based on a long series of data from the island of Skomer and on local observations along the Welsh 196W mainland coast, the sea mammals research unit of NERC and the Nature Conservancy Council believe that the grey seal population in Wales has remained stable during the last five years.