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Key facts

  • Some fishermen and fish farmers shoot seals because they eat fish. A seal swimming close to a fish farm, in a salmon river or near coastal nets is seen as a competitor for fish.
  • There is no legal requirement for good marksmanship when shooting a seal, so there is a high risk of wounding which can lead to prolonged suffering.
  • In almost forty years, there has only been one successful prosecution under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970.
  • Populations of common seals have declined dramatically - by around 40 per cent - in some parts of Scotland over the last 5 years.
  • Incredibly, no-one knows how many seals are being killed - because there is no requirement for seal killings to be recorded.
  • We need a new law that will change the present seal-killing culture to one which is more humane.

Scotland's seals need MSPs to increase protection

Monday, 31 August 2009 13:58

Advocates for Animals is asking MSPs to amend the Scottish Marine Bill to provide greater protection for Scotland’s seals. As currently drafted, the bill includes a general ban on the shooting of seals, but provides a wide range of exemptions for shooting under licences to be issued by Marine Scotland.

The Bill’s Policy Memorandum states that licences are likely to be granted on an area basis, based on the number of seals that it is estimated can be removed without affecting the wider population (known as permitted biological removal or PBR). The Moray Firth Management Plan, which was launched in 2004, works on this basis. 

Advocates for Animals, however, cautions against providing licences on a group basis without further safeguards for the seals. Speaking ahead of the evidence session on protection of seals at the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, Libby Anderson, Advocates for Animals’ Political Director, said:

“This part of the Bill is all about protecting seals.  But there is a lack of clarity about the nature and conditions of the licences that the Government proposes to issue to allow the continued killing of these animals.  There is a risk that PBR could come to be viewed as a target rather than a limit. We are seeking amendments at Stage 2 of the Bill to ensure that vital protection is written into our new legislation.  We would much rather see an outright ban on the shooting of seals but if that is not the Scottish Government’s approach we must at least ensure that these licences are not handed out wholesale. Our suggestion is that the licences can be allocated but not activated unless the need to kill a specific seal is
independently verified.

“We particularly want to ensure that licences are not given out for killing any seals during their breeding seasons. Killing a lactating mother condemns her pup to a long slow death from starvation, dehydration or infection. No commercial interest can justify inflicting such suffering.”

 
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