On Monday 27th of July, The Great Seal Count was held for the 16th time. A total of 43 people took part in the count, which began at 11:35 a.m. with a lecture by Dr. Sandra Granquist, Head of Seal Research at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute and the Icelandic Seal Center. The programme concluded with refreshments and conversation with the volunteers, lasting until 6:00 p.m. As before, the coastline from Reykjaskóli and into Sigríðarstaðavatn (south of Hvítserkur) was covered—just over 100 km in total—and the count itself took almost five hours.
Last year, 445 seals were counted, which was about a 19% decrease from the two preceding years, when around 550 seals were counted. We therefore hoped that the 2025 count had been an anomaly, as has happened before, and that the number would rise again this year. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as the number remained almost unchanged and 441 seals were counted. Admittedly, it was quite windy on the day of the count, which may have reduced the number, but it must be acknowledged that the result is concerning. By comparison, more than 1,000 seals were counted in the years 2008–2010.
The bar chart below shows the results of The Great Seal Count from the beginning. The yellow bars indicate the years when Heggstaðanes was not counted, meaning the counting area was just over 70 km.
The weak status of Iceland’s seal populations is a cause for concern, and The Great Seal Count indicates that the situation is not improving, although care should be taken not to draw overly strong conclusions from it. It is encouraging that work has begun on a new population assessment of the harbour seal, and this summer Faxaflói Bay and the coastline of Northwest Iceland will be surveyed using drones. This work will provide a clearer picture of the situation.
As before, we would especially like to thank the landowners who allow volunteers to cross their land in order to carry out the count. We also thank Ölgerðin which provided volunteers with energy drinks and soft drinks for the third year in a row.
