Dear all, On behalf of my co-authors, I am pleased to announce the recent publication of our article in the ICES Journal of Marine Science: *Wide dispersal of recently weaned grey seal pups in the **Southern North Sea* Verena Peschko, Sabine Müller, Philipp Schwemmer, Moritz Mercker, Peter Lienau, Tanja Rosenberger, Janne Sundermeyer, and Stefan Garthe** ** Abstract Grey seals have become an important part of the ecosystem in the southern North Sea over the last 50 years. However, little is known about their spatial utilization of the German North Sea, especially in relation to the dispersal and behaviour of grey seal pups after weaning. We investigated these little-known aspects by recording the movements of 11 grey seal pups born at the largest German colony for 1– 9 months after leaving the colony between 2015 and 2017. The individuals moved widely throughout the southern North Sea, including some individuals that moved far along the Danish coast or to Dutch and UK waters. A point process modelling approach revealed that pups increased their distance to Helgoland during the first 70 d at sea. The frequency of inferred foraging behaviour increased until week 7 and decreased afterwards, whereas fast travelling behaviour increased throughout the whole study period. These findings reflect the transition from naive to more experienced pups, with gradual increases in foraging effort, range and efficiency to account for their increasing energy demands for survival and growth. This study provides the first characterization of the dispersal, behaviour, and spatial utilization of recently weaned grey seal pups in the southern North Sea, which profoundly extents our knowledge of an increasingly important top predator in that area. Available at : https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsaa045 Please, do not hesitate to contact me (peschko@ftz-west.uni-kiel.de) if you have any queries regarding to this article or to request a PDF copy. Best regards, Verena Peschko -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Verena Peschko Research and Technology Centre (FTZ) University of Kiel Hafentörn 1 25761 Büsum Germany Tel: +49 4834 604 250 Fax: +49 4834 604 299 e-mail: peschko@ftz-west.uni-kiel.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~