Scientists return to study seal-eating killer whales

A TEAM of scientists has returned to Shetland for a major study into the life of local killer whale populations, which feed on seals.

Dr Andy Foote from Aberdeen University said there were about 30 orcas regularly working the coastline around Shetland. And he said common seals did form the main diet of the Shetland killer whales.

A report by the Scottish Government's special committee on seals last month found numbers are continuing to fall in the Northern Isles, where the whales' predatory behaviour is increasing. The seal decline was between 40 and 50 per cent in Orkney, and more than 40 per cent in Shetland.

Now the scientists from Aberdeen University, who studied the behaviour and feeding habits of killer whales around Shetland over the past two summers, say the orcas mainly feed on seals.

Their current visit is part of a long-term study, which started in 2006, into the population structure of killer whales around Scotland's coast.

In 2007, the researchers witnessed groups with more than 50 killer whales feeding near a local trawler just ten miles off Shetland. The group is asking local people to help them by reporting sightings.