The Cape Fur seal

The Cape fur seal, Arctocephalus pusillus, is the only seal that breeds in Southern Africa.  It breeds at 25 colonies between Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth) and Cape Frio (Northern Namibia), with approximately two-thirds of the population in Namibia and one third in South Africa.  The mainland colony at Kleinzee is the largest colony in South Africa.  

But although the seal colony is used as one of the tourist attractions for Kleinzee, is it nearly impossible to get in there. Firstly because the colony lies in Alexcor's diamond fields with strict security - and even if one of the friendly staff is willing to let you in, it won't matter because secondly Nature Conservation has decided that for now nobody is allowed near the colony. Not even the film crew for National Geographic! According to the ladies in the security office, visitors have a profound effect on the behaviour of the seals, particularly the mating rituals. 

It was this seal colony which induced the 1990-moratorium on sealing in South Africa. After it was estimated that the 1.5 million seals in South Africa consumed about 2 million tons of fish per year the fishing industry called for seals to be culled to reduce their population.   When a proposal to kill 30 000 seals at Kleinzee led to a public outcry a moratorium on sealing was imposed. It is not the purpose of this post today to comment on “sealing”, it is a subject that justifies its own post.

Research since 1990 has shown that seals do not really have a negative effect on the hake industry and although some seals follow these deep sea trawlers, they mainly feed on the discarded fish on the surface. The seals do however cause huge problems in the sole and kingklip industry because they steal the fish right out of the nets or even feed on the pieces of fish right through the nets. In the bottom trawling industry they waste the fishermen's time by diving into the nest before they close or dispersing the schools of fish. In the snoek industry seals are also an annoyance. Whole or pieces of fish are plucked from the hooks while they are pulled in. According to calculation the seals cost the snoek industry nearly R1 million per annum.  Overall, based on 1992 figures, the detrimental effect seals have on fishing operations causes losses of 0.3-0.7% of the total value of the fishing industry. 

Even though seals also eat squid and octopus, their diet consists for 70% out of fish and west coast rock lobster. One can only imagine the amount of fish a fully grown seal-bull weighing 360kg could eat daily... No wonder the fishermen are frustrated, occasionally see red and just want to go hunting seals. And it is such a pity, seals are actually incredibly intelligent predators of the sea. One just have to be able to withstand the stench of a seal colony... then you could be witness to a very interesting story of nature!

Aggressive seal-bulls arrive at their breeding sites between end of October and beginning of November and fight for their territories till the seal-cows appear.  A seal-bull's harem can have as many as 7 -30 cows. The seals stay together in these territories for about 6 weeks. 

The babies conceived during the previous year's mating, are born late November. Six days later the seals mate again. However the implantation of the embryo is delayed for four months, and followed by an eight month gestation period. The females stay in the colony for almost a year, feeding at sea but returning every few days to suckle their young.

Even though we could not visit the renowned seal colony at Kleinzee this time, I knew of a smaller colony of seals in the Namaqua National Park, from a previous visit to the West Coast. This is a colony accessible to the public. It truly was an experience to watch these magnificent animals again.