Marine mammals are recognised as Priority Marine Features (PMFs) and serve as important indicators of marine biodiversity and ecosystem health. However, many species around Scotland remain in poor conservation status or are data deficient. The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews conducts world leading research on seals and cetaceans to provide the scientific evidence needed for evidence-based conservation and management.
August surveys are the key method of monitoring Scottish seal populations. For both species (grey and harbour seals), these data underpin a variety of conservation and management decisions and actions, including Environmental Impact Assessments, at-sea density estimates, and estimates of Potential Biological Removal (PBR). These data are also critical for informing NatureScot advisory case work. For harbour seals, they are the only metric of abundance considered in population assessments. Recent surveys have indicated declines in the west coast harbour seal stronghold, and thus the Scottish harbour seal population is now in decline as a whole.
NatureScot funding allows SMRU to conduct these August surveys around Scotland. A complex camera system (involving a thermal imaging video camera, a colour video camera, a high-resolution photo camera, and a laser range finder) is required to effectively find, photograph and count harbour and grey seals around most of the Scottish coastline. However, that system was over 10 years old, and in recent years there have been increasing operational issues associated with the hardware. To safeguard the upcoming survey program (2026-2030) and to ensure the resilience of the program in the longer term, there was an urgent need to invest in a new camera system.
In 2025 SMEEF was able to provide a grant of £374,994 to support this work using resources from the Nature Restoration Fund.