Citizen Scientists Helping Victoria’s Seals on World Ocean Day
Animal lovers from around the world are set to take part in one of the largest long-term monitoring projects for Australian fur seals, providing vital information for marine scientists and helping ensure mega breeding colonies continue to thrive.
Launching on World Ocean Day, Phillip Island Nature Parks is calling on citizen scientists to join the 2026 SealSpotter Challenge, where members of the public help researchers identify and count seals from drone images captured during seal breeding season at Seal Rocks off Phillip Island and The Skerries near Mallacoota.
The last SealSpotter Challenge was held three years ago, with research showing participants collectively counted an average 171,00 seals each year. Recorded population trends closely match expert scientific counts, demonstrating the important role citizen science plays in conservation research.
Phillip Island Nature Parks Senior Scientist Dr Rebecca McIntosh said the project had become an integral tool for monitoring marine ecosystem health.
“What’s remarkable about SealSpotter is the sheer scale of community participation and the quality of the data being collected. Last time we held the count in 2023, people from 90 countries took part.” Dr McIntosh said. “Using drones to count the seals also minimises research effort and disturbance compared to the previous method of counting them onsite, a terrific improvement for the seals and the researchers”.
“There are thousands of images to count, which is why we need the public’s help. The valuable information we gather paints a strong picture of what’s happening in our marine environment.”
“The counts contributed by citizen scientists also help us track long-term population trends, identify any seals entangled in plastic and fishing materials and inform marine and coastal management in Victoria.”
Australian fur seals are top predators, meaning changes in their populations can reflect broader ecosystem conditions, including food availability and ocean health.
“Seal populations can provide important clues about the health of the ecosystem more broadly, including species like little penguins,” Dr McIntosh said.
The SealSpotter Challenge will start on World Ocean Day – Monday 8 June and run for two weeks – anyone can take part, and by helping us you will be directly contributing to future education programs, wildlife managing initiatives and, importantly, seal entanglement reduction.
Budding scientists can access the SealSpotter portal here
