Common seals haul out in accessible coastal areas making them vulnerable to human disturbance during pupping season. Their welfare is affected by disturbance, disease outbreaks, and fisheries bycatch.
Common seal welfare during pupping season depends on human behavior. Boat disturbance of haul-out sites causes females with pups to enter the water, separating mothers from pups that cannot yet swim effectively. Repeated disturbance causes chronic stress to hauled-out seals. Disease outbreaks that periodically devastate populations represent acute welfare crises affecting thousands of animals. Bycatch drowning in fishing gear affects individual seals year-round. The combination of these pressures requires both behavioral change from the public and regulatory protection of haul-out sites.