Greenland Seals Hold up Shipping in Gulf of Kaliningrad - 1 April, 2003

About 200 seals have been spotted in the Gulf of Kaliningrad and part of its shipping lanes (the Kaliningrad Region is a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea). Scientists from the ATLANTIRO Institute believe that the seals, whose native habitat is the southern coasts of the Norwegian Sea, have followed Baltic herring which spawn on the shores of the Baltic.

Some of the seals are currently warming themselves in the Gulf's shallow waters, while others are swimming in shipping lanes, thereby holding up traffic.

The seals have enough food, but when the herring spawn and return to the Norwegian coast, the scientists believe they will require human assistance. According to the experts, the required funding for this is provided in budgets at all levels under the article "unforeseen feeding of migrating animals."