Seal of approval

Citation

(2002), "Seal of approval", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2002.07951fad.007

Seal of approval

Seal of approval

Although this is not really "office news", I include it under the "license" of "out-of-office" working! I was just intrigued to hear that seals are to be given mobile phone technology to "phone home" new insights into their whereabouts, feeding and behaviour. The project, based on Siemens Mobile technology, involves the University of St Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), a world leader in the study of seal ecology, developing special tags which will collect and relay dive and position information from grey seals and "text message" the data back to St Andrews when they return to land after feeding trips. The novel study, the first example of mobile phone technology being used in this way, will explore the feeding, ecology and survivorship of grey seals in the UK. Funded by the university, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Siemens Mobile, the project is the latest in a series of leading-edge research techniques developed by SMRU which have delivered important new information, not only about the seals themselves, but also their wider interaction with the marine environment. The information is actively informing policies on marine mammal management and conservation. Once developed, the tiny telemetry "phone tags" will be harmlessly glued to a seal's fur and will provide a more efficient and effective means of relaying data about seal activity than is currently possible (the tags will fall off when the seals naturally moult). In phase two, Global Positioning System (GPS) and depth sensors will be added, allowing, through General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) massive volumes of detailed track and dive behaviour to be sent ashore. For more information, visit the SMRU Web site http://www.smru.st-and.ac.uk