Plett’s famous river seal, Stompie, still missing in action
Stompie – one of a handful of known adult male Cape fur seals regularly spotted in the Keurbooms River estuary during surveys carried out in 2017 and 2018 – was last seen mid-November last year.
Feeding and living almost exclusively in the estuary, biologists believe this choice of habitat to be a naturally-learnt behaviour adopted by only a few male individuals.
Explains marine biologist Frikkie van der Vyver: “Since January, volunteers assisted held biologists during eight boat-based photo-ID surveys on the Keurbooms River. Only one seal was present in the estuary during each survey, which covered an area from the mouth up to Bitou River and all the way up to Whiskey Creek.
“A vast majority of seals appeared to be yearlings and sub-adult males, all unknown to our biologists. None of the known adult males often present in the estuary during 2017 and 2018 were spotted again this year.
“Apart from the possibility that they may have left the river to join the annual breeding season from November to January, or have died, their continued absence remains a mystery.”
Van der Vyver says that once biologists have established a more long-term dataset, researchers will be able to examine the seasonal presence of specific known individuals in the estuary, their movements, behaviour and potential impact on vulnerable estuarine fish species that are also of recreational and conservation concern.
“Eventually long-term data will be used to place the possible impact of river specialists into context with current recreational fishing pressure, which volunteers also record during surveys,” he concludes.
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