During the afternoon of Thursday 5 February, distressed calls came in to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue hotline from Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth, Cornwall where a young grey seal tangled in a giant mass of net had been discovered fighting for its life on the shoreline.
With the tide washing in around it, members of the public had managed to recover the animal with the net, thought to be mid-water trawl gear, across the rocks on to the main beach. In the meantime BDMLR’s trained volunteer responders had been urgently dispatched to the scene. Luckily, one of them was already on another part of the same beach and arrived within seconds, while others followed minutes later. Two off-duty staff members from the Cornish Seal Sanctuary who live in the area also attended the emergency.
Between the responders, the young seal and entangling mass attached to it were moved further up the beach away from the fast-incoming tide so that it could be safely cut free. With so much net wrapped tightly around its body this took some time, with many strands to slice through. Eventually, once it was free, the juvenile animal was given a thorough health assessment that determined it had fortunately received no serious injuries and was otherwise in good health. It was given a temporary mark for future identification before being released back on to the beach and headed into the sea.
In the aftermath, the knotted mass was unravelled, revealing that it was 30.7m in length and weighed 23.5kg. This is the largest single item of pollution that BDMLR has freed a live seal from, with the previous one being an 11m trawl net cut from another young grey seal near St Ives on almost the exact same date in 2022. In both cases these animals were incredibly lucky to have been found and the actions of members of the public and BDMLR responders were clearly instrumental in saving the lives of these two unfortunate entanglement victims.
Sadly, entanglement in marine litter such as ghost fishing gear, frisbee rings, plastic bags and other items continues to be a major threat to the welfare of seals and other wildlife species. BDMLR supports the efforts of communities, conservation groups, councils, individuals and the fishing industry to dispose of lost, abandoned and discarded fishing gear as well as other forms of pollution as their actions undoubtedly save animals from suffering and eventual death. However more needs to be done to reduce these casualties from happening in the first place.
A petition banning frisbee rings, which are becoming a surprisingly common item found entangling seals can be found at: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-import-and-sale-of-flying-rings-that-cause-pain-suffering-and-death-to-seals and people are encouraged to use solid disc and bio-friendly alternatives instead.
Support from the public keeps our rescue teams trained, equipped, and ready to help entangled seals when every minute matters. https://www.justgiving.com/charity/Bdmlr
Photographs by: Frankie Sharp, Gabby Beslan, Lindsey McInerney, Cam Molland
