Advocates for Animals has welcomed much of the Marine (Scotland) Bill report1 released today by the Scottish Parliament Rural Affairs Committee, which proposes improvements to protect Scotland’s seals.
The Stage 1 Report addresses a number of the concerns raised by Advocates for Animals and other seal welfare and conservation organisations about the suffering of seals being shot in Scotland. The report recommends:
• Including an offence of intentionally or recklessly harassing seals.
• Licences to kill or take a seal should only be issued if there is “no satisfactory alternative”.
• When a licence is issued to shoot seals, its conditions should include: the skill of the marksman, the type of firearm used, and the marksman’s proximity to the target.
• Fish farms that are not fitted with anti-predator nets but wish to shoot seals should explain on their licence applications why they do not have nets fitted.
• All licensees should report the taking or killing of seals at least quarterly.
Although many of Advocates for Animals’ recommendations have been accepted, the report does not comment on the possibility of banning the killing of seals during their breeding seasons.
Advocates for Animals’ Policy Director, Libby Anderson, said:
“The recommendations in the report reflect many of our aspirations for a more robust seal protection regime than was proposed in the draft Bill. Of course we would prefer to see no killing of seals in Scottish waters and there is still the crucial issue of killing during the breeding seasons that has not yet been addressed. Unless the Bill is amended, licences may still be granted to allow pregnant seals or those with dependent young to be shot – meaning that orphaned pups could be left to starve to death slowly around our coastline. We will be urging the Committee to support a number of amendments to give Scotland’s seals better protection from harm.”
Scottish Green MSP Robin Harper said:
"A prohibition on killing animals during close seasons is a fundamental animal welfare measure and is the case for most terrestrial mammals. At present, pregnant and nursing seals are being shot and dependent pups are starving to death or are being left at the mercy of the elements. It is imperative that we bring this unnecessary suffering to an end.
“Therefore, I will be lodging an amendment to the Marine Bill to ensure that licences to shoot seals are not granted during the breeding and moulting seasons of the grey seal or the common seal."
Scottish Labour MSP Elaine Murray, a member of the Committee, added:
"Scottish Labour would like to see greater protection for seals in the Marine Bill. The killing of any seal should be a last resort and only if all other methods of deterrence have failed, and applicants for a licence to kill seals must be able to demonstrate that all other possible non lethal methods have been tried unsuccessfully or would not work.
"We want the Bill to make it clear that a licence to kill will only be granted to people who can demonstrate a high level of marksmanship, using a suitable weapon and in sufficient proximity to the seal to avoid unnecessary suffering. We also believe that when a seal has been shot all incidents must be recorded and reported."
SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson has also indicated that he will bring amendments to improve protection for seals under the Bill.
Advocates for Animals earlier this year released a report2 on the serious animal welfare implications of shooting of seals, when wounded seals can be left to die and orphaned pups to starve. Advocates for Animals believes that ideally there should be an outright ban on the killing of seals, a move which would be supported by 75% of people in Scotland3.
The Stage 1 Report will be debated by the full Scottish Parliament in the last week of October, before Stage 2 scrutiny by the Committee begins in November.
- ENDS -
Notes to Editors:
For interviews or further information please contact Advocates for Animals’ Policy Director, Libby Anderson, on 07967 839137.
1 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/nmCentre/news/news-comm-09/crae09-s3-006.htm
2 Advocates for Animals’ report A Seal’s Fate: The animal welfare implications of shooting seals in Scotland is available at: http://www.lookoutforseals.org/images/stories/documents/seals_report_april_2009.pdf
3 TNS System Three was commissioned by Advocates for Animals to measure public opinion amongst the population of Scotland. The TNS System Three Omnibus, Scottish Opinion Survey was used as the means of data collection. A sample of 1,003 adults aged 16 and over was interviewed in-home in 43 constituencies throughout Scotland over the period 3rd to 10th January 2008. To ensure that the sample was representative of the adult population n in terms of age, sex and class, it was weighted to match population estimates from the National Readership Survey of January – December 2006.
Which of these do you support in relation to seals in Scottish waters:
o It should be made illegal for anyone to kill seals in Scottish waters - 75% (753)
o Fish farmers and fishermen should be allowed to continue to kill seals in Scottish waters – 12% (119)
o Don’t Know – 13% (131)
• The Scottish Government consultation on the Marine Bill last year received over 3,800 responses from the public as part of Advocates for Animals’ ‘LOOK OUT FOR SEALS’ campaign, by far the largest single issue of concern. Of the 4,177 responses to Question 43 on the Seal Forum Review of the Seal Conservation Act 1970, a massive 4,147 – or 99% - of responses called for greater protection for seals.
• Actor Richard Briers recently narrated a short animated film, Bonnie's Tale, for Advocates for Animals. The star of such TV hits as The Good Life said "Everyone has a soft spot for seals. I think the shooting of seals is absolutely awful especially during their breeding seasons." See http://www.advocatesforanimals.org/content/view/625/675
• Scotland has internationally-important populations of common and grey seals around its coast, and a legal responsibility to protect them. Seal-watching trips are increasingly popular with tourists and generate valuable income for coastal communities. However, the population of common seals has declined by over 40 per cent in some parts of Scotland over the last five years. While a number of different factors are thought to be responsible for the decline, it has been estimated that fish farmers and fishermen kill thousands of seals each year by shooting and drowning. Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead has recently stated that “‘Scotland has a duty to protect its iconic seal populations.”
