{"id":529817,"date":"2026-03-09T23:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/529817\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:34:14","slug":"how-this-team-is-helping-fur-seals-escape-the-scourge-of-plastic-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/529817\/","title":{"rendered":"How this team is helping fur seals escape the scourge of plastic waste"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bianca<\/p>\n

March 10, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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From above, the fishing rope cutting into the fur seal\u2019s chunky neck looks for all the world like a fat roll on her generous body. On researcher Adam Yaney-Keller\u2019s thermal camera, the seal\u2019s injury is unmistakable \u2013 its heat is generating a glowing line on his screen.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The scale of fishing debris is vast and growing, as marine heatwaves push both fish and fishers closer to coastlines where seals, fur seals, walruses and sea lions congregate.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where technology such as drones equipped with thermal cameras comes in.<\/p>\n

\"ResearchersResearchers send a drone over Seal Rocks off Phillip Island.Tony Mitchell<\/p>\n

Yaney-Keller, a PhD candidate at Monash University, has spent the past few years using drone-borne colour cameras and thermal infrared imaging to detect fur seals that have been entangled in marine debris \u2013 often fishing ropes and netting.<\/p>\n

But identifying a single injured animal in a larger group \u2013 particularly in a colony \u2013 presents overwhelming logistical difficulties.<\/p>\n

\"AA seal at Seal Rocks on Phillip Island.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n

Added to the practical difficulties are more ethical ones. Yaney-Keller and a team from Monash University and Phillip Island Nature Parks have conducted dozens of trips to Seal Rocks, off the coast of Phillip Island.<\/p>\n

The Victorian island is host to the largest colony of Australian fur seals, where it is estimated 19,000 seals live, and researchers walking through the colony run the risk of disturbing nursing mothers, scaring off young, or encountering protective and aggressive males during mating season.<\/p>\n

\"SealsSeals at Seal Rocks on Phillip Island.Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n

For these reasons, researchers now hang back and let their drones do the searching.<\/p>\n

Yaney-Keller says that given the sheer number of fur seals at Seal Rocks, they almost always find an entanglement when they send their technology into the sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seas are full of plastic and things that these animals can get caught up in,\u201d he said. \u201cAll this marine debris pollution coming from either fishing vessels or coming just from land inputs or just our normal trash, the animals can get caught in nearly anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA fur seal pup entangled in rope next to its mother.courtesy of Monash University<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, researchers have rescued more than a dozen fur seals from entanglement.<\/p>\n

They tracked one, a juvenile, for eight months before they could catch her and remove the green fishing net slowly strangling her as she grew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to see that after we disentangled her, she did some big foraging trips, and she started to recover a lot better. It was really nice to see that, from this sort of injury, that can be quite horrific, that you can make a real difference if you just take it off of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

An unexpected bonus from the research was the discovery that shark bites and other injuries are also visible from the air, raising hopes of more targeted rescues and rehabilitation attempts.<\/p>\n

Phillip Island Nature Parks marine scientist Dr Rebecca McIntosh said the use of thermal drones to scan fur seal colonies was a major breakthrough for conservation.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew drone technology is helping researchers to save fur seals from entanglements.Claire Taylor<\/p>\n

\u201cThis technology allows us to see subtle heat signatures that reveal injuries and entanglements from the air that can normally be difficult to see,\u201d McIntosh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means we can detect at-risk seals earlier, intervene with better information and ultimately improve welfare outcomes for individuals and better understand trends in entanglement and impacts on the population as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

While all marine animals are at risk of entanglement, fur seals and other pinnipeds \u2013 including seals, sea lions and walruses \u2013 are a barometer for the plastic problem affecting the broader marine environment because they spend so much time on land.<\/p>\n

Yaney-Keller said people could help reduce the problem of entanglements by avoiding fishing in areas known to be populated by seals.<\/p>\n

Get to the heart of what\u2019s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"BiancaBianca Hall<\/a> is The Age’s environment and climate reporter, and has worked in a range of roles including as a senior writer, city editor, and in the federal politics bureau in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 10, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-529817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}