WALVIS BAY, July 15 — Ocean Conservation Namibia (OCN) said it rescued 272 seals in the first six months this year along the country’s coastline.
Fifty-four percent of the rescued were sealed pups, the conservancy said of its efforts at such locations as Walvis Bay, Sandwich Harbor and Torra Bay, the conservancy said on Thursday.
The OCN is a private initiative started in 2020 to rescue seals from entanglement caused by ocean rubbish and plastic pollution, particularly discarded fishing lines and ghost nets.
“From 2020 to 2021 we rescued 611; then in 2021-2022 we rescued 606, and now we have rescued 272, which is more than 1,400 seals saved,” OCN founder Naude Dreyer told Xinhua.
There are more than 1.4 million seals in Namibia waters. The dumping of rubbish and other waste causes seal entanglement, which often results in the death of the seals as they cannot free themselves. (Xinhua)
