The population of grey seals on Great Blasket island, Ireland's biggest grey seal colony, is "poised on a precipice", and has been reduced drastically in just 50 years, according to a report by the Irish Seal Sanctuary.
The ISS has called on Kerry County Council for a comprehensive study of the grey seal population and for the implementation of 100-mile buffer zones around the island in order to protect the seals and other wildlife on the island. The calls come in a submission to Kerry County Council's local area plan for the island, the closing date for which was yesterday.
The profile of seal pups nationally coming to the ISS over the past decade has changed from pups that were victims of storms and misadventure to weanlings and juveniles that were starving and with antibiotic resistance, the report said.
Surveys by the ISS suggest there are only about 400 resident grey seals on the Blaskets, the bulk of these on Great Blasket.
This is down from 700 in 1998 and from 2,000 some 50 years ago.
"The factors involved appear to be externally diminished food supply and internal disturbance," according to a submission by Mr Brendan Price and Ms Pauline Beades.
The ISS wants a ceiling on the number of visitors to Great Blasket, along with good planning controls and a plan to minimise human activity and the impact on the habitat and food supply. It welcomed the decision not to locate a pier close to the breeding grounds and instead to use the pier's current locations.