Plea for Government action as holiday family finds shot seal
published this on 9:25 pm, Tuesday, 3rd November, 2009Marine Environment| News| Tourism activities | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
Like many people visiting the west coast of Scotland, a family of four from Rossendale in Lancashire were driving along the shore of Loch Craignish close to Ardfern last week when they spotted a dead common seal (also known as a harbour seal) on the shore.
On closer inspection it could be seen that the seal had been badly injured by what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds. Mr Mawdsley stated that his daughters – aged 9 and 12 – were very adult about the find, although they did think that it had been a shame that the seal had been shot.
The Mawdsley family were on their way to take a local tour boat out to see west coast marine wildlife. This form of ‘eco-friendly’ tourism is growing along the west coast of Scotland and incidents like shot seals can have a strong knock-on effect on the local tourism industry in general.
The girls spoke to the tour boat operator about the seal, who said that seals are shot on a regular basis in Scotland as shooting is cheaper than using alternative non-lethal methods of anti-predation methods like nets. Hearing this the girls were concerned that wild animals like seals were being shot for ‘cheap’ salmon.
Mr Mawdsley took and produced several photos of the dead seal. He has also reported the incident to Strathclyde Police. At the time of going online I have been unable to contact the Officer in Charge.
As ForArgyll is an open, information site, I have decided that the photos are too gory for publication. But it appears from the pictures that numerous shots may have been fired. One appears that it may have travelled right through the seals body and exited by the flipper. This was not a ‘quick’ kill and I believe, from the photographic records, that the animal would have suffered and probably for a long time.
I contacted several tour boat operators, one of which did not want to give his details for fear of retribution – but did say that he had seen and photographed a dead common seal just a few weeks previously (pictured) close to the Island of Jura.
Mr Lindsay Johnson of Sea Leopard (Craignish Cruises) said that he had observed a decline in seals in Loch Craignish over a very long time, and he went on to say that there are now very few seals close to Ardfern where he remembers seeing many more.
ForArgyll has recently published information regarding seals and seal shooting and the pending Marine (Scotland) Bill which is looking at the current seal shooting laws in Scotland. It is known that some finfish farms, fishermen, salmon netsmen and anglers have and do shoot seals in order to protect their fish. This shooting has been both legal and illegal in the past.
There are several finfish farms in the area and I spoke to Mr Bruce Condie of Kames Fish Farm in Kilmelford. He said that Kames has not shot any seals in a very long time and due to their good husbandry and management have not had to. He went on to say that farming halibut made it vitally important to have a ‘false bottom’ net 2 metres away from the enclosure. They have found this to be very effective.
Mr Colin Blair of the Lakeland Group said that their farms in the area had been fallow (a period where the seabed is allowed to recover from excessive nutrient loading from ‘messy’ fish eating and fish excretia), they currently have juvenile fish which are not prone to the same predation problems and that they have not shot a seal in a very long time.
A representative from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) was not available at the time of going online. However, it has to be said that I have found the concern and actions from SNH regarding the common seals in the Lismore Special Area of Conservation wanting – so much so that the Lismore case has resulted in a second complaint being sent to the European Commission.
Seals are monitored in the UK by the Sea Mammals Research Unit for the Special Committee on Seals (SCOS). Recent data concerning seals can be found on their website. The decline of common seals in the Strathclyde region could be as high as 30%. Even with this massive decline in the common seal population – recorded at around 50% in some places in Scotland – this government still refuses to stop the shooting of seals.
This is a species now under threat. It supports the wildlife tourism on which much of Argyll’s future economic growth rests. Seals can coexist with fish farms if the companies concerned take care to protect their stocks and act responsibly. It is indefensible that it is easier to shoot living creatures than to employ and monitor responsible business practices. The Scottish Government – and Fisheries Minister, Richard Lochhead – would do well to pay attention to this issue.
Mark Carter, Environmental Editor
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November 4th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I have also found the occasional shot seal but have to admit to not checking every corpse I find, which means the situation is probably underecorded. I have also noticed a decline in the common seal species generally. Bearing in mind that tourism and its related industries accounts for something like 85% of cash coming into Argyll and with those visitors icreasingly inrerested in nature and wildlife, the practise of shooting seals is to say the least worrying for the species and actually the economy and image of the area.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
It would be interesting to know how many people in Argyll are legally permitted to shoot seals. The total figure for the rest of Scotland is 279 but Strathclyde Police do not keep their firearms records on computer and cannot retrieve this information.
Salmon farmers do not have to shoot seals. Adopting certain farming protocols and installing and maintaining high strength tensioned anti-predator nets not only removes the need to shoot seals it protects the farmers from being prosecuted for breaching the Animal Health and Welfare Scotland Act 2006 which legally obliges fish farmers to eliminate predator attacks on their stock.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
My house overlooks Loch Craignish and for many years I was involved in the ‘marine tourist’ industry. Lindsay Johnson is quite right, there are far fewer seals in Loch Craignish than in the past and the decline has increased in recent years. Coincidentally, the fish farm that pretty much fills the eastern side of the loch, sheltered from the view of the road and village by Eileans Righ, Gabhar and Macaskin, has increased in size steadily throughout that time until it now severely encroaches into the navigable channel.
The small rocks and islets in that channel were perfect seal nurseries and I used to see mothers and pups on a regular basis – even seeing a pup being born on a skerry by Eln. Gabhar. I have seen none there for many years, though these days I don’t visit as often as Mr. Johnson.
Until last year though, there was a ‘sanctuary’ on the rocks south of Macaskin, where thirty or more seals could be seen hauled out on a regular basis. Last year a new fish cage was anchored half a mile or so from that rock. Coincidentally, there seem to be fewer seals on the rock these days. Maybe they just weren’t there when I passed by, Lindsay Johnson will know more.
Most years, outside the tourist/yachting season, shots can be heard echoing around from the southeastern part of the loch – not just one as though a deer has been shot, but volleys, as though there are many targets (or the shooter is a particularly bad marksman). These are rifle shots, not shotguns. To be fair, I don’t remember any last year – no need really, no seals. Lakeland ‘haven’t shot a seal in a long time’, so they have done in the past and no doubt will again when their fish grow big – if there’s a seal left around.
The argument about fish farmers ‘rights’ to protect their investment is just crass. There are places along our huge coastline where seals are less common, or are not their breeding grounds. Why not put the farms there? But no, instead, they are put right next to their main predator’s breeding ground.
The situation is analagous to a cattle farmer setting up a farm in the middle of the Masai Mara, moaning about predation and shooting all the big cats he can find. The whole world would come down on the head of anyone so stupid.
Well, Mr. Fish Farmer, the seals of our seas are the lions of Africa and they need to be protected from people like you. You have no moral right of protection from them. If it’s uneconomical to protect your stock in a benign way, take your cages somewhere else and accept you made a mistake.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
There is no excuse for salmon farmers shooting seals.
The problem of the shooting of seals by salmon farmers has a simple solution. A minority of farms responsibly use a double net with the outer net held away from the inner net by the use of tensioning weights. These farms do not have a problem with seal predation and do not “need” to shoot seals. The nets do cost money but the salmon farming industry in Scotland is currently very profitable. All industries have a duty to operate in a way that is responsible to the environment and to other industries operating in the same area. Wildlife tourism is hugely important to the local economy but does rely on people having something to see. Seals are on of the most important species for wildlife operators and support a growing and what should be sustainable industry.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:57 am
The Marine (Scotland) Bill is currently going through the Scottish Parliament and it is still possible to get amendments and changes to Part 5 which will replace the Conservation of Seals Act 1970. At present the proposals mean little more than fish farmers having to buy a Government license to allow them to continue killing seals 365 days a year.
There is no reason why the new law should not make it illegal for fish farmers to kill seals. At the moment the pro seal killers are trying to make it look as though ignorant townies who do not know what they are talking about are trying to ruin their industry. That is utter nonsense, if a fish farmer has to shoot seals he or she is not running their farm properly.
It is important to show that it is not all townies who want to protect seals. I urge fellow residents of A&B to contact their MSPs and make it clear that you want them to use the Marine (Scotland) Bill to remove the right of fish farmers to shoot seals.
As usual the Government want to be all things to all people and are tinkering with the law instead of having the guts to radically change it.
You can get details of your MSPs here: http://www.writetothem.com/
You should also copy your e-mail to Maureen Watt who is Convener of the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee which will consider amendments to the Bill in the next few weeks before it goes back to the full Parliament. Maureen.Watt.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
November 6th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I would like to support the views expressed in of all of the above comments – I find Tony Gill’s response (above) has particular resonance.
The Scotsman published an article last week on the new legislation on seal shooting in Scotland. I sent a reply to this, which can be read as a comment to the article on the Scotsman website and also on http://www.bdmlr.org.uk/index.php?page=news
We have also reported on a preliminary study of seal/fish farm interactions entitled ‘In search of seal-friendly salmon farming’. This can be found online at
http://www.lookoutforseals.org/images/stories/documents/seal-fish-farm-study-interim-report-271009. This study is ongoing, and we very much hope that the fish farms quoted in Mark Carter’s article above will participate in the next phase of the study.
It is essential for the future of Scotland’s natural heritage that the present-day slaughtering of seals is replaced by a humane conservation ethic, supported by the new marine bill for Scotland.