Anyone walking along the Belgian coast this summer could hardly miss it: the seal is back. Even in Ostend, this striking marine mammal has reclaimed its place on the beach. The city installed fences and banned swimming in a demarcated zone to protect the animals from curious people and dogs. The sight of these endearing, somewhat clumsy creatures basking in the sand delights many beachgoers. Yet behind this charming scene lies a more complex story: one of recovery, new threats and rising tensions.

Not so long ago, seals were a rarity on the Belgian coast. The grey seal had all but disappeared from the southern and central North Sea by the Middle Ages, as their pups were easy prey for humans. In the twentieth century, common seals also suffered heavily. Hunting, pollution, overfishing and disturbance caused their populations to collapse.

A turning point came in the 1960s. Thanks to legal protection, the rescue of orphaned pups and improved water quality, the species began a slow but steady recovery. Since then, numbers have risen continuously. On the Belgian coast, the common seal now predominates, but the larger and noisier grey seal is increasingly frequent as well.

Yet, this renewed presence brings challenges. Where beachgoers once roamed freely in Ostend, there are now fences and information boards. In Zeebrugge, extra signage was added this summer. Volunteers from the NorthSealTeam patrol regularly, explaining why keeping a distance of around thirty metres is crucial. Many people don’t realise that seals haul out on beaches simply to rest. It’s part of their routine. Getting too close, taking selfies, or letting dogs run free startles them, preventing the animals from recuperating fully before returning to sea

Victims of bycatch

The return of the seal doesn’t mean it is safe. The number of stranded animals is rising, often with severe injuries from fishing nets. Between 2005 and 2020, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) recorded 374 dead seals. In 2021 that figure peaked at 101, more than triple the average. Over half had serious head or neck injuries, sometimes clear strangulation marks from nets. The toll has remained high: 54 in 2022, 48 in 2023, and 72 in 2024. Young seals are especially vulnerable.

That more seals die as bycatch is partly due to growing populations, yet such deaths are hardly acceptable. “We are fairly powerless against seal bycatch,” says Jan Haelters, policy adviser at the Institute of Natural Sciences. Having monitored seals for years, he notes that many victims die not in Belgian waters but in nearby foreign ones, where gillnets are far more common. These long nylon nets, anchored to the seabed for hours, ensnare fish and occasionally seals. “Although gillnets are less destructive than beam trawls, which drag along the seabed and cause major damage, they pose a great risk to marine mammals,” Haelters stresses. Porpoises can be deterred with acoustic signals, but for seals no effective method yet exists. Fishing hooks also inflict deep or even fatal wounds.

“Grey seals are still increasing, helped by new colonies in unexpected places,” Haelters adds. “They seem less vulnerable to bycatch. For common seals it’s another story. Their numbers are slightly declining in parts of the southern and central North Sea.

Climate and food chains

Climate change may also shape the seals’ future. “The main impact will likely come through shifts in the food chain, though this is not yet proven,” says Haelters. What is clear is that fish species are disappearing while new ones arrive. Changing plankton dynamics, driven by climate variation, ripple through the entire food web. “So far we see no direct effects on seals, which are quite opportunistic feeders. But changes in the food chain never come alone.”

Pollution remains another threat. Nutrients from agriculture and sewage cause algal blooms and oxygen-poor zones. Plastic waste is ubiquitous. The Belgian seabed holds an estimated 20,000 pieces of litter per square kilometre. Every beach shows traces: ropes and nets that can entangle seals, and micro- and nanoplastics that accumulate in their tissues through the food chain.

Chemical pollution is also significant. In the Dutch Wadden Sea, seal populations once nearly collapsed due to disease and infertility linked to toxins. Stricter regulation improved matters, but new, barely studied chemicals still find their way to the sea, with largely unknown long-term effects.

A less tangible pollutant is noise. Shipping, detonations of old munitions, sonar, offshore wind farm construction, cable and pipeline laying, and sand extraction all contribute to an almost constant acoustic burden. Low-frequency engine noise travels for tens of kilometres, while sonar pulses and pile-driving cause acute disturbance and even hearing damage. Seals avoid such areas, losing critical resting and feeding grounds.

Legal protection

On paper, seals enjoy robust protection. Both common and grey seals are listed in the EU Habitats Directive – Annex II, requiring special conservation zones, and Annex V, mandating sustainable management. Moreover, trade in seal products is banned throughout the EU, with exceptions only for traditional hunts by Indigenous communities.

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive also obliges member states to cooperate under international treaties such as OSPAR, which unites fifteen countries and the EU to safeguard the North-East Atlantic. It evolved from the 1972 Oslo Convention on dumping at sea and the 1974 Paris Convention on land-based and offshore pollution, merged in 1992 into today’s OSPAR Convention.

In practice, implementation is patchy. Bycatch reporting is inconsistent, measures are slow, and enforcement varies by country. While seal populations grow in northern waters, hunting, pollution, disturbance and climate change push others towards extinction. The Mediterranean monk seal, for example, numbers barely a thousand individuals, half of them in Greek waters. “Tourism drives them from the caves where they give birth,” says Haelters, “while many pups perish in fishing nets or so-called ghost nets, abandoned gear left drifting at sea.”

European tensions

In western and especially northern Europe, the expanding populations are fuelling tension. In summer 2024, the European Commission launched a public consultation on whether the EU’s ban on seal products “remains fit for purpose.” The EU imposed the trade ban in 2009 to end a hunt widely condemned as cruel. Since then, only Indigenous subsistence hunting has been exempted.

The consultation followed complaints from Baltic fishermen claiming competition from seals. It was not the first protest: “In Finland and Sweden, fishermen have long been unhappy,” Haelters told VRT NWS. “They use gillnets and, on hauling them up hours later, often find the catch half-eaten by seals.”

The debate recalls that surrounding the cormorant – also protected, yet frequently blamed by fishermen. In spring 2025, the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) called for a structural reduction in cormorant populations. Both cormorants and seals are accused of consuming too many fish, while scientists point out that overfishing, climate change and habitat loss are far greater drivers of stock decline.

Despite hunting bans in most EU states, seals are still killed in some. According to European Commission figures (2019–2022), more than 6,800 were culled in Sweden and over 3,200 in Finland. In the United Kingdom, individuals that repeatedly damage fish farms may legally be shot. Seals thus remain unpopular in some quarters, often due to the belief that they deprive commercial and sport fishers of their catch. Yet, studies suggest that competition is likely limited.

Nevertheless, seals retain broad public sympathy. Around 80 per cent of respondents in a 2024 Savanta survey supported the EU’s ban on seal products, citing animal welfare and ethical concerns. Sixty-eight per cent agreed that existing legislation remains adequate and should not be weakened.

More Protection Needed

The seal’s resurgence extends beyond Belgium. In Ireland, numbers have risen from near extinction to between 7,000 and 10,000 animals. In Denmark, they are reappearing on coasts where they were absent for more than a century. Both grey and common seals now form sustainable populations. Across the North Sea (from northern France to Zeeland) and along the Celtic coasts, they are again familiar residents. Common seals are stable or increasing, though declining in some areas for unclear reasons. Grey seals are thriving, establishing new colonies. It is a conservation success born of strict protection, yet old threats never disappear entirely.

Belgium has taken concrete steps to protect seals and their habitat. Since 2015, recreational nets have been banned, and the Fisheries Service has enforced compliance. An increasing share of the coast has also gained protected status. Today, 36 per cent of the coastal zone and 22 per cent of beaches are protected areas. In marine reserves such as the Flemish Banks, bottom-disturbing fishing is being restricted and other activities face tighter regulation.

With the Marine Environment Act adopted at the end of 2022, this policy gained solid legal footing. Activities like sand extraction or intensive fishing must now undergo prior ecological assessment. Permits can be refused or issued only under strict conditions. Fines for marine pollution have risen sharply, with revenues channelled into a fund for nature restoration and pollution response equipment.

Science also plays a crucial role. Aerial surveys track population size and distribution, while stranded animals are examined to determine cause of death. “That knowledge helps us adjust human activity,” says Haelters. “Piling or dredging work can be shifted to periods when fewer animals are present, giving seals and other marine mammals the rest they need to recover.”

Yet vigilance remains essential. Current measures offer hope, but pressure on the sea and coast continues to mount. Without sustained effort and stricter enforcement, the recovery of the seal risks becoming only a temporary success story.

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This article is part of PULSE, a European collaborative journalism project.

With reporting by Patricia Devlin (The Journal Investigates, Ireland), Annick Hus (freelance, Belgium), Emma Louise Stenholm (Føljeton, Denmark), Dimitris Angelidis (EFSYN, Greece) and Lola García-Ajofrín (El Confidencial, Spain).

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