At over 32 thousand, the Baltic grey seal population has risen by 2.7 thousand over the past year, the Finnish Natural Resource Centre has informed online. At the turn of the 1970s and 80s only 3-4 thousand grey seals inhabited the Baltic Sea.
Professor Krzysztof Skora from Gdansk University\'s Oceanography Institute told PAP that the Baltic grey seal population is monitored yearly and has doubled since 2003.
Skora reminded that only 3-4 thousand grey seals lived in the Baltic in the late 1970s and the present population was rebuilt thanks to protection measures like hunting restrictions. He added that despite the population growth in recent years it was still too early to say if the species was unthreatened.
Skora said grey seals played an important role in the Baltic eco-system, which they cleared of weak and sick fish.
The main Polish institution responsible for the protection of grey seals is a marine station on the Hel Peninsula.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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