The NERC Special Committee on Seals (SCOS) 2025 report is now live on the SMRU website: www.smru.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2026/0.... Updated population trends analysis and advice to gov relating to management of UK seal populations 🦭📈📉
Dr Julia Sutherland
@jcqsutherland.bsky.social
Research Fellow, University of St. Andrews. Investigating predator-prey interactions of killer whales and seals in Scotland.
New publication led by SMRU's @izzylangley.bsky.social on competition between grey & harbour seals in Scotland using 20+ yrs of diet data. Many thanks to all who collected samples, and collaborators from the Lighthouse Field Station and Institute of Marine Research #OA Paper: doi.org/10.1002/oik....
Temporal changes in the dietary niche of sympatric seals provides insight into the role of competition in population declines
Competition theory suggests that interspecific prey competition can result in changes to the dietary niche, but obtaining timeseries of data from sympatric species experiencing temporal variation in ...
doi.org
Our recent paper on grey and harbour seal transboundary distribution made the cover of @jappliedecology.bsky.social! 😀🦭Thanks to Dr Kelly Robinson of @seamammalresearch.bsky.social for the photo! Check the paper here: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
🦭 We have a new paper out! We developed an accessible framework for assessing the risk of collision between seals and operating tidal turbines. ⏭️ We found that most seal tracks moved near the turbine without collision. Read it here: doi.org/10.1002/aqc.... @seamammalresearch.bsky.social
We are recruiting several PhD students. If you are interested in conservation conflicts, population ecology, quantitative ecology, or biodiversity, check these projects out (links in the thread, feel free to reach out):
Closing next week!!
MASTS@mastscot.bsky.social · 8mo ago🌊Want to work supporting MASTS? Fancy working at the Scottish Oceans Institute in St Andrews, Scotland? [we work right by the beach!] We currently have a full time position open for an administrative assistant. Deadline: 12 Jan 🔗 More info here: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
New @jappliedecology.bsky.social paper: SMRU researchers @mattidcarter.bsky.social & @djfrussell.bsky.social led a large collaborative team to map the distribution of grey and harbour seals at sea across the Northwest European Shelf 🦭 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
At‐sea distribution of seals on the Northwest European Shelf: Towards transboundary conservation and management
This study provides the first comprehensive, regionally scalable distribution estimates for pinnipeds across the NWES and its constituent countries. The modelling framework is adaptable to other cent....
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
My first PhD paper is now out! We calculate overlap intensity between African penguins and the local purse seine fishery 🐧🐟 Check it out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Spatial overlap alone downplays the level of interaction between a central place forager and the local fishery
While spatial overlap is commonly used to quantify interactions, it may underestimate the true degree of competition between foraging predators and fishing vessels. Our alternative population-level m...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Published! Gough et al: Daily energetic expenditure and energy consumption of short-finned pilot whales. Drones+tags+diet reveal pilot whales need ~142 squid/day @marinemammalogy.bsky.social @jexpbiol.bsky.social @acs-ps.bsky.social @uhmanoa.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-...
New study, collab with @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social: reduced adult survival for harbour seals in areas of pop. decline in Scotland. tinyurl.com/ys4hc3jw Mark-recapture models applied to photo-ID data from 3 sites with contrasting pop. trajectories to generate concurrent survival and fecundity rates.
🐬 Registration is now OPEN for the UKIRSC 2026 Marine Mammal Conference hosted @plymuni.bsky.social 🎓A FREE event bringing together students from across the UK & Ireland to share research, connect, and learn from leading marine mammal scientists. 👇Link below #UKIRSC2026 #MarineMammals
Important new analysis of bycatch patterns in UK fisheries by @fayehelenmoyes.bsky.social continuing the legacy of the late Professor Simon Northridge. An unexpected result: 'pinger' use, although decreasing cetacean bycatch, may actually increase seal bycatch academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...
📣Announcing the launch of SealMAP: Seal Mapping & Analysis Platform. This SMRU app allows you to explore & download the latest grey & harbour seal distribution maps for Scotland. You can also get estimates of density for your area of interest. Happy mapping! arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/shiny/smru/s... 🦭🗺️
Another wonderful Marine Forum this weekend hosted by @strandings.bsky.social and @whalesorg.bsky.social 🐳 A delightful day with thought-provoking talks and insightful discussions. A pleasure to represent @seamammalresearch.bsky.social and meet so many passionate participants! 🦭 #marineforum2025
@jcqsutherland.bsky.social doing a fantastic job, despite unruly technology, talking about her PhD research on killer whale predation in Shetland at #marineforum2025 @strandings.bsky.social
It's been a pleasure to virtually attend the International Orca Symposium this week 🐳 Many an interesting talk on killer whale biology, ecology, and conservation from researchers around the world 🌍 My presentation on my PhD research with #ECOPredS can be seen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLjJ...
Predator-prey interactions of killer whales and seals in inshore Shetland
YouTube video by ECOPredS Project
youtube.com
🦭 Have you spotted a grey seal killing or eating harbour seals or grey seal pups in the UK? Please send your footage and reports to SMRUsealreports@st-andrews.ac.uk ! 🦭
SMRU@seamammalresearch.bsky.social · 2y agoSMRU researchers are appealing for the public to help us understand why UK Harbour seals are in steep decline news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/st-a...
New paper from my PhD provides genomic evidence that white shark livers are on the menu for Aussie killer whales! See more here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Reminder‼️ I’ll be presenting my PhD research tonight at 7pm ⬇️ Join online to see what our amazing orcas get up to in Shetland!
Dr Julia Sutherland@jcqsutherland.bsky.social · 2y ago📢 Webinar alert! I'll be presenting my PhD research as part of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust Winter Webinar series on Weds 22th Jan. Sign up here on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/killer-wha...
🦭🔍 New paper alert in @jappliedecology.bsky.social! I'm excited to share my 1st first author paper, showing how seals avoid tidal turbines when they're operating! doi.org/10.1111/1365... 🧵 @seamammalresearch.bsky.social
Seals exhibit localised avoidance of operational tidal turbines
The result showing that seals exhibit avoidance of the turbine during operation is important for industry developers and regulators, as lower numbers of seals close to the turbine reduces the potenti...
doi.org
📢 Webinar alert! I'll be presenting my PhD research as part of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust Winter Webinar series on Weds 22th Jan. Sign up here on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/killer-wha...
🔔 NEW PAPER 🔔 Our latest paper is out, led by our student Giulia Bellon, using passive acoustic monitoring to investigate the occurrence of killer whales in Icelandic waters. You can read all about it (open access) here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Killer whale (Orcinus orca) occurrence in Icelandic waters revealed by passive acoustic monitoring
The distribution and occurrence of killer whales around Iceland are primarily studied in coastal herring grounds, with limited knowledge beyond these areas. This study employed opportunistic passive ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
PhDone! 🎓 Huge thank you to everyone who contributed to #ECOPredS and helped this research come to fruition, it's been a whale of a journey 🐋 Stay tuned for subsequent publications! In the meantime, thesis available here: research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023...
Hello Bluesky!👋 I'm Julia, a Research Fellow at the University of St. Andrews investigating predator-prey interactions of killer whales and seals in Scotland #ECOPredS. Follow for all things behavioural, big, and blubbery 🐳🤍🖤
