Seals are the “rats of the sea” and should be culled, a group of Cornish fishers have said.
Marine campaign groups hit back after fishers on an online marketplace and forum expressed anger about the amount of fish seals eat.
Posting a statistic that “for every fish caught by our fisheries, seals eat 53 times more”, the Cornish Mackerel Fishermen group wrote, adding: “We need a cull!”The fishers did not supply a source for this number. Some studies have suggested seals eat as many fish as commercial fisheries catch in some areas.
After backlash, the group doubled down, adding: “This page is for line fishermen, which is the most eco friendly way of fishing. Line fishermen do not support super trawlers or ring netters in any way.
“There’s a real problem with the seal population around the UK as they have no predators any more? All you lot see is cute furry labrador-looking animals when in fact they are like the rats of the sea.”
This description is disputed by scientists. A European parliament technical paper entitled Seals and Fish Stocks in Scottish Waters found: “The effects of predation by both species of seals on overall stock abundance of most fish species is likely to be insignificant.” It said seals consume relatively little fish compared with other species. Seabirds, for example, are thought to eat twice as many fish as seals in Scottish waters.
Another study, which was conducted in Ireland in 2015, found seals mostly eat smaller fish, which commercial fishers cannot legally take. Experts have also pointed out that seals face unfair persecution because they are larger and more obvious than other marine predators that compete with fisheries for prey.
It is also accepted by scientists that seals are an important part of the food chain. As apex predators, seals control populations of prey, as well as spreading nutrients around, which in turn feeds plankton and other organisms at the bottom of the food chain. They are also indicators of a healthy marine ecosystem.
Despite this, there is animosity from some fisheries towards seals. Until recently, it was legal in Scotland to shoot seals to protect the salmon farming industry, with 80 shot in 2020. The Scottish government stopped issuing licences to kill seals last year, to protect £180m in annual salmon exports to the US, which is banning imports from countries that allow seals to be killed to protect fisheries.
The Blue Planet Society, a volunteer pressure group working to protect the marine ecosystem, condemned the comments from the Cornish fishers group.
A spokesperson said: “Cannot believe a UK commercial fishing page thinks it is acceptable to post this propaganda and call for a seal cull. It’s likely that seals – through tourism-related activities – contribute more to the UK economy than the fishing industry does.
“It was Cornish Mackerel Fishermen that called for the seal cull. And here we were thinking that line-caught fish from small-scale fisheries was the sustainable choice. Please keep this in mind next time you see the label ‘Cornish mackerel’.”
The Guardian contacted fishers group for comment.
