Seals die in 1988

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In 1988 a seal death of previously unknown proportions occurred in the North Sea . In connection with a simultaneous algal bloom , this event attracted a lot of media attention and packages of measures to reduce environmental pollution.

Course of events

In April 1988 one observed the increased incidence of miscarriages and weak young animals in the seals in the western Baltic Sea . As a result, all of the young animals born that year died in May. In the months to come, the number of seal carcasses washed ashore on the North Sea coast increased extremely and in August reached 500 per week along the coast of Schleswig-Holstein alone . During the year, seal carcasses were found along the coasts of Denmark , Norway , Sweden , England , Ireland , Scotland , and the Netherlands .

A total of about 18,000 seals died in 1988, about 60% of the total population. The incident was not the last, in 2002 the seal death was repeated, affecting a total of 22,000 animals.

causes

The seal death phenomenon had occurred for the first time - for reasons that were initially unknown. Researchers from countries bordering the North Sea looked for possible causes of the epidemic. While scientists initially disagreed about the cause - hypotheses made chemical waste, dioxin or herpes viruses responsible , among other things - a research group led by Albert Osterhaus and Anders Bergman established a connection to the distemper virus in mid-1988 . The characteristic symptoms found in the seal carcasses corroborated this thesis.

Independently, various scientists argued that pollution and a poor ecological condition were the primary trigger for the epidemic , because the immune system of the seals was too weakened by pollutants and environmental toxins to fight the infection successfully. Albert Osterhaus did not rule this out either.

Reactions

Recordings of the seal carcasses received a lot of public attention. As a sign of environmental protection, around 30,000 people formed a human chain on Sylt on July 24, 1988, from List to Hörnum , which, at 38 kilometers , is said to have been the first and at the same time the longest in northern Germany . In addition, the seal death has led to a political debate about pollution and possible measures taken to reduce the discharge of pollutants into the environment.

As a consequence, Federal Environment Minister Klaus Töpfer presented a 10-point catalog for the protection of the North and Baltic Seas. This included, among other things, the goal of increasing limit values ​​for municipal sewage treatment plants for phosphate as well as introducing the chemical purification stage of denitrification and thus retrofitting the sewage treatment plants. Another measure directed against industrial emitters included an increase in the level of levy for pollutants and the plan to gradually end the capping of hazardous waste at sea by 1994 .

The seal population recovered after the epidemic subsided. Ten years after the seal death, slightly higher populations were observed than shortly before the epidemic.

literature

Töpfer Klaus, Schäfer Harald B., Bröse Ulrich (1988): The environmental program for the protection of the North and Baltic Seas . Economic service. Verlag Weltarchiv, Hamburg, 68, No. 9 ISSN 0043-6275, pp. 443-450

Web links

Single references

  1. ↑ An overview of the pathological-anatomical and -histological changes in the examined seals (Phoca vitulina) from German waters . Retrieved February 22, 2019
  2. ↑ Lessons learned from the seal death . In: Interaction - Technology Natural Science Society, 1989, 11 (41). Retrieved February 22, 2019
  3. ↑ Development of the seal population on the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony, distemper seals - PDV (Phocine Distemper Virus) . Retrieved February 22, 2019
  4. ↑ Infection may have caused seal death. . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 17, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2019
  5. ↑ a b Seal Death - Race with Viruses . In: Spiegel Online, September 5, 1988. Retrieved February 22, 2019
  6. ↑ North Sea: "Signs of a terminally ill nature" . In: Spiegel Online, June 6, 1988. Retrieved February 22, 2019
  7. ↑ Seal Death: The Great Fear of the Dead Sea . In: Hamburger Abendblatt, July 20, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2019
  8. ↑ Klaus Töpfer, Harald B. Schäfer , Ulrich Bröse (1988): The environmental program for the protection of the North and Baltic Seas . Economic service. Verlag Weltarchiv, Hamburg, 68, No. 9 ISSN 0043-6275, pp. 443-450
  9. ↑ An overview of the pathological-anatomical and -histological changes in the examined seals (Phoca vitulina) from German waters . Retrieved February 22, 2019