In a document submitted to the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee the SSPO also calls for provisions to be included to ‘protect the health and welfare of farmed fish’, as required under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, which they claim is ‘a statutory farmers’.

“The industry is trying to justify the mass slaughter of seals in order to protect the welfare of caged fish”, said Andy Ottaway of SPAG , “We can’t help feeling it is a tad hypocritical to argue that seals must die so that caged fish are protected. These fish live their lives in cages to be slaughtered for profit. I don’t think this argument will wash with the salmon buying public. They already think killing seals is too high a price to pay for Scottish salmon.”

The SSPO document also takes issue with the proposed requirement to report the killing of individual seals to Scottish Ministers, which they dismiss as ‘disproportionate and unnecessarily bureaucratic’. They argue that an annual reporting scheme would suffice, SPAG believes that that the new measures, if applied correctly, would protect individual seal colonies from being wiped out, as well as hugely reduce the number of seals killed overall.

Common seals are suffering what has been described by Seal Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) scientists as a ‘frightening decline’ nationwide. Although shooting is not directly blamed SPAG believes that it cannot be ruled out as a contributory factor and should be banned if only to let populations recover. The industry is a ‘culture of killing seals’ that must be changed by law.

Perhaps most disturbingly the SSPO try to justify continued secrecy over seal killings by accusing the campaigners of unspecified extremism. They state, ”there is a deep concern on both the part of individuals and of businesses about the way seal licence data will be publicly reported. There is a body of seal activists in the UK who have shown a willingness to engage in direct and, in some cases, extreme measures”.

This totally unsubstantiated statement is used to justify their further argument that ‘fish farm personnel have a corresponding right to be protected from threats or actions in undertaking their lawful business. We therefore respectfully request that the Bill should make specific provision for the publication only of aggregate annual data relating to Seal Licences.’

“If the SSPO believe that our campaign to peacefully expose the appalling scale of Scottish seal slaughter is extreme then we are proud to be guilty as charged”, said Andy Ottaway, “When will they understand that public opinion is firmly on the seals side and this slaughter has simply got to stop.”

We are calling on members of the public to avoid Scottish salmon unless their retailer can guarantee that producers do not shoot seals. Please show your support by signing our ‘Save Scotland’s Seals’ pledge.

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The ban will be implemented in 2010 and will help save hundreds of thousands of seals that are brutally clubbed, shot and often skinned alive each year in Canada and around the world.

“The European ban is a massive blow to the seal killers that profit from horrific cruelty to defenceless animals”, said Andy Ottaway, Campaign Director of SPAG, “However, seals are still being persecuted all over the world including in Scotland and we will continue to actively campaign to provide them with the full protection they deserve.”

It is estimated that thousands of seals are killed each year by the Scottish salmon industry with scientists recently reporting a ‘frightening decline’ in common seals around the UK coast. The Scottish Government has recently suggested that this decline may be due to competition with grey seals or even predation by orcas (killer whales) however these statements lack scientific credibility. 

On 30th April the Scottish Government launched its draft Marine Bill announcing a licensing system for killing seals and salmon farms, salmon netsmen and sea fisheries will be able to apply for a license to shoot seals. The Seal Protection Action Group welcomes stronger legislation to protect Scotland’s marine environment, but we do not believe that a licensing system for killing seals is desirable, realistic or enforceable.

“European nations have voted by public demand to protect seals from cruelty yet Scotland continues to persecute these wonderful animals”, said Andy Ottaway, “Seal killing leaves an indelible stain on the international image of both Scotland and Scottish salmon products and must be stopped.”

We are calling on members of the public to avoid Scottish salmon unless their retailer can guarantee that producers do not shoot seals. Please show your support by signing our ‘Save Scotland’s Seals’ pledge.

You can also help SPAG to protect seals by:

The Seal Protection Action Group (SPAG) is delighted with this decision. SPAG has been actively campaigning for the ban, and we lobbied key Committee members before the vote urging them to support a complete ban and to reject a proposed seal product labeling scheme instead. The labeling scheme would have allowed seal imports to continue from countries that kill seals provided they met strict guidelines intended to make the killing of seals more humane.

In January, the Canadian Government, that sanctions the world’s largest seal cull, announced changes in domestic killing regulations in an attempt to make the Canadian cull appear more humane and so allow the seal trade to continue.

The European Parliamentary Committee’s vote sets a clear mandate to the European Commission that a comprehensive ban on trade must be adopted.

“A comprehensive ban on trade in seal products within the European Union will be a massive blow to the seal killers that profit from appalling cruelty to defenseless animals” said Andy Ottaway, Campaign Director of SPAG, “However, we still have a lot of work to do to greater protect the hundreds of thousands seals still being slaughtered  worldwide”.

In addition to the massive Canadian seal cull, where over 300,000 seals are clubbed and shot each year, large scale seal hunts also take place in countries such as Namibia, Norway, Russia, Greenland and the UK.

In the UK, an estimated 5,000 seals are deliberately killed in Scottish waters alone each year, by salmon farming and angling interests. Although the UK Government is supporting an EU ban on all seal product imports, SPAG is concerned at the woefully inadequate protection afforded to the UK’s globally important populations of common and grey seals.

SPAG is working hard to protect the hundreds of thousands of seals being persecuted worldwide. For further details about our campaigns and how you can get involved, please click here.

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EDM 678: Protection for seals – That this House recognises the UK’s international obligations to maintain its globally important seal populations at a favourable conservation status; notes that seal populations remain depleted and are threatened by further outbreaks of the phocine distemper virus and remain under increasing threat from climate change, depletion of prey species pollution and deliberate killing; notes with extreme concern scientific reports of a frightening decline in the population of common seals in UK waters; further notes that an estimated 5,000 seals are shot in Scottish waters by the salmon industry; believes that the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 is outdated and in urgent need of review or replacement; and calls on the Government to implement an immediate and comprehensive ban on the deliberate killing of all seals, to replace the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 with legislation for the comprehensive protection of seals in the forthcoming Marine Bill and to liaise with the Scottish Executive to this end.

Mr Tipping said:

““It makes no sense to be shooting seals however much of a threat they might occasionally be to fish farms. When you have a population that looks as though it is going through a terminal collapse measures must be taken to stop that.”

SPAG is calling on the public to contact their MP’s asking them to support Paddy Tipping’s EDM.

The easiest way to contact your MP is by visiting www.writetothem.com. Once on the site, search for your MP using your post code and then simply send a message using the box provided.

For information about our campaign to protect seals in the UK and how you can help – please click here.

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