This collaborative and vital project is funded by WIRES, the Foote Trust, the Australian Wildlife Society, and the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment. Funding from the Penguin Foundation will amplify results from this project for community education and outreach.

The testing of thermal and colour imagery for detecting entangled seals is now complete and has been expanded to include five state-of-the-art thermal sensors, provided at low to no cost from local partners. Currently, collected imagery is being analysed and results collated on thermal drone technologies ability to detect different entanglement types and age classes of seals. An exciting result so far is that the technology is also useful for detecting other types of wounds, such as shark bites. Preliminary results indicate that a combination of thermal and standard colour sensors may yield the best detections for entanglements.

Deployment of tags and collection of health data and samples is now complete. 24 fur seals (12 previously entangled, 12 control) at Seal Rocks have had trackers temporarily glued to their backs to compare the behaviour of seals entangled in marine plastic with healthy seals of the same sex and size. 26 fur seals have been sampled for health data. The trackers measure activity via an accelerometer, temperature and depth recorder, and location via GPS. Four new high resolution GPS tags were deployed on two of the entangled and two of the control seals as well, and are currently transmitting data on their movements at sea. The data from the tags is being analysed to see how active the two groups of seals are and where they go. Resight data from tagged seals continue to be collected, and is yielding insights into how entangled seals recover.

The final field trip was celebrated by a significant disentanglement of a juvenile female fur seal entangled in green trawl netting. She is believed to have been first seen entangled by Wildlife Coast Cruises in February 2024 and, since May 2024 has been seen regularly on Seal Rocks. She was very wary of capture and we had several unsuccessful attempts to capture her. The marine scientist team had concerns for her survival grew as her condition deteriorated over time and the entanglement tightened around her neck. On the final tag deployment trip of the project (09 October 2024), Dr. Brett Gardner from Zoos Victoria was able to sedate her remotely using a dart-gun as she rested on the edge of a rockpool. Unfortunately, a rowdy male disturbed her and she was pushed into the rock pool as the sedative took effect. Monash University PhD candidate Adam Yaney-Keller responded quickly and drenched himself to pull her out. She was transferred to a safe and dry location and the team worked to remove the embedded piece of netting while she was sedated. Being considered strong enough, movement tags were attached to the fur on her back, and her recovery was closely monitored by Dr. Gardner and team, only leaving Seal Rocks after she had woken-up and was moving freely around the site. It was a great feeling for the team to have successfully released this female after trying to help her for so long, and we are hopeful for a healthy recovery. Adam is now examining the tag data being sent by the tags and looking forward to sharing all she will teach us about the effects of entanglement on fur seals. This capture and disentanglement was an example of the great work accomplished by the partnership between Phillip Island Nature Parks, Monash University, and Zoos Victoria, and a win for all project partners.