Nutritional status of seals 2018 (HOLAS 2)
Short description
This core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment in terms of the nutritional status of seals measured as average blubber thickness of seal populations as it signals both long term and short-term changes in food supply and many other stressors for the seal populations. Good status is achieved when the subcutaneous blubber thickness is above the defined threshold value, which reflects good conditions. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 1 (the entire Baltic Sea, without the Kattegat). Attribute information: "Assessment" = Name of assessment unit for the evaluation "Status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Threshold value" = Threshold value (mm blubber thickness) "Specimen" = Specimen information "Indicator value" = Indicator value 2011-2016 "Confidence limit" = 95% confidence limit "Notes" = Additional information "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator "Species" = Species Assessed
Point of contact
HELCOM Secretariat
data@helcom.fi
Spatial extent
['7.521199', '33.930701', '52.523458', '66.478764']
Type
dataset
Metadata information
Identifier
Keywords
Oceanographic geographical features ; GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 ;

nutrition ; marine mammal ; GEMET ;

MADS ; HOLAS2 2018 Core indicator ; Core indicator ;

Resource provider(s)
HELCOM Secretariat
data@helcom.fi

Lineage
The data collected and used in the indicator are based on national databases. The health team of the HELCOM seal expert group is given the responsibility to compile, store current national data, and investigate future arrangements for establishing a HELCOM database. Currently, this core indicator assesses the nutritional status of only grey seals (due to limited data for other marine mammal species). Each management unit is evaluated against two sets of threshold values, the threshold value for exponentially growing populations and the threshold value for populations at carrying capacity of the system. The analysis is made using samples from sub-adult seals (1-3 years old). Confidence of the indicator evaluation for grey seals is considered to be high. Additional information: http://www.helcom.fi/baltic-sea-trends/indicators/nutritional-status-of-seals/ Link to metadata of dataset used for indicator calculation: http://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/9f4f55d8-0e23-46cc-83f7-7b59ef48633a