Grey seals are compromising cod stock recovery plans

private fraser

Well-Known Member
I wonder where this is heading...

Grey seals are compromising cod stock recovery plans - BBC News

Probably not to a cull, it would be very unpopular.

I was talking to a stalker on an island who turned down requests from local fishermen to cull the seals (legally).
Living on an island, you have to tread carefully re peoples opinions

I'm not sure I could cull them either, something about them.
The population seems to be expanding and getting through a lot of fish though.
 
I need to get my eyes tested....... at a quick glance at the thread heading I read it as 'grey squirrels compromising cod stock......' now that would be an interesting read....... funny what the brain can just auto correct for you!
 
A friend of mine culls them. Biggest problem is that he isn`t allowed to keep the meat or use the pelt.

They all go to the university to be opened up for a looksee
 
Not sure seals are more "cuddly" than deer. Perhaps they do need a bit of thinning out in some places.

David.
 
I read in Shooting Times a while ago about a wildfowler whose dog was attacked & killed by a seal. I'd be killing some myself if that had happened to my dog..............

I believe a fair amount are shot for fish theft from fishing nets?
 
Cod breed in deep water don't they and yes seals will eat several fish a day. But the biggest effect on marine life is mankind and in particular large fish catches and the number of small fish that are killed in the process. What is needed are no fishing zones to allow stocks to recover. One of the positives regarding offshore windfarms is that they create no fishing zones that will be breeding sights for the fisheries. Most of the seabeds around the UK are scraped bare of marine life and the habitat to support young fish. A bit like most of our countryside - it would once have been mixed woodland with intersperced grasslands, heathlands and boggy areas and in the mountainous areas right up to 2,500 to 3,000 ft. Over the last 1,000 years just abut all our native woodland and flaura and fauna has gone so we are now left with vast tracks of open land either growing large areas of cereals, or in the uplands, open hill ground, mono cultures of forestry or wind farms. The same is true of our seabeds in the areas around the coast.
 
Cod breed in deep water don't they and yes seals will eat several fish a day. But the biggest effect on marine life is mankind and in particular large fish catches and the number of small fish that are killed in the process. What is needed are no fishing zones to allow stocks to recover. One of the positives regarding offshore windfarms is that they create no fishing zones that will be breeding sights for the fisheries. Most of the seabeds around the UK are scraped bare of marine life and the habitat to support young fish. A bit like most of our countryside - it would once have been mixed woodland with intersperced grasslands, heathlands and boggy areas and in the mountainous areas right up to 2,500 to 3,000 ft. Over the last 1,000 years just abut all our native woodland and flaura and fauna has gone so we are now left with vast tracks of open land either growing large areas of cereals, or in the uplands, open hill ground, mono cultures of forestry or wind farms. The same is true of our seabeds in the areas around the coast.

good post
 
Yes, the no take zone in Lamlash bay Arran seems to be working well.
The bottom in a lot of areas seems to have as much life as the surface of the moon
I do hope they change their mind on rod and line fishing in Lamlash bay though.
Minimal impact and brings in money for tourist fishing boat trips..mainly mackerel I would say.
 
So a native species of predators is responsible for ruining the plans of "the fishing industry" who have systematically decimated all fish populations due to overfishing, by catch and stupid fecking EU systems of quotas and had hoped that by some miracle the stocks would recover if they left them alone for 5 minutes?!?!

is that the gist of it?

Sorry but the ONLY issue with fish stocks especially cod is the fishermen themselves, the morons who run the regulation of the fishing industry and the government policy makers

don't believe anyone when it comes to info on fish stocks....its a bit like deer numbers but worse as the sea is even more difficult to survey!

In this weeks Shooting times:

 
There was a family of fishermen on the south end of the Wash that I believe were the only people allowed to cull seals in the Wash.When we used to punt out from there you could see many hundreds of seals out on the high sands. But around the corner in Norfolk it appears that a lot of fishermen now make a living taking people out on seal trips.
Good on em.Wf1
 
So a native species of predators is responsible for ruining the plans of "the fishing industry" who have systematically decimated all fish populations due to overfishing, by catch and stupid fecking EU systems of quotas and had hoped that by some miracle the stocks would recover if they left them alone for 5 minutes?!?!

is that the gist of it?

Sorry but the ONLY issue with fish stocks especially cod is the fishermen themselves, the morons who run the regulation of the fishing industry and the government policy makers

don't believe anyone when it comes to info on fish stocks....its a bit like deer numbers but worse as the sea is even more difficult to survey!

In this weeks Shooting times:


I thought more or less what you said. Do they mean there's a seal problem or do they really mean they've over fished and now want to bump the seals off so the last few cod can be caught (for profit obviously).
 
Iceland had the right idea, their cod stocks haven't been affected anywhere near as badly as the stocks in UK waters.
 
I thought more or less what you said. Do they mean there's a seal problem or do they really mean they've over fished and now want to bump the seals off so the last few cod can be caught (for profit obviously).


I think the fisherman are holding there hands up to decimating the fish stocks, but are now blaming the massive rise in seals for keeping the numbers low and not recovering the way they should.

By all accounts seal numbers are rising pretty fast, (whic will increase the chance of them catching the distemper? disease when densities rise) so it is very possibke that seals are keeping numbers down, BUT i think wot heym? said earlier about the poor state of the sea beds etc will also have a massive impact on it too. Reckon the majority of sea beds now look like the surface off the moon. Think insore sea fishing catches have dropped massively in both quantity and quality in recent years
 
I wouldn't have supposed seals were a major factor in slowing the recovery of cod, but don't see why we should have a different attitude to managing seal populations than we do about deer.

The "cute-ness" factor shouldn't be a part of any such debate -look at the mess that's got us in with badgers- and neither should the "noble predator" myth, or the misinformation that culling means eradication, or that it is just euphemism for "killing" rather than a more plain-speaking term for management.

If there's good evidence of a problem, let's have proportionate, effective and humane solutions, regularly reviewed.

Where possible, I believe we should also make good use of the resources harvested through culling, whether that's badger ham, organic bristles for brushes, seal salami, sealskin sporrans or your favourite artery-plugging treat deliciously deep-fried in locally-sourced blubber. [I have no idea what a dead seal might have to offer haute cuisine/couture... but this is probably obvious already. I also admit to an element of hypocrisy here, since I've never been able to bring myself to eat, or ever managed to sell, any of the many foxes I've shot.]
 
Can you imagine carrying a dead seal out?

Bloody heavy I'd suggest :eek:

You'd need a builders "big bag" for a carry sack (or, preferably, a fork lift).
 
Can you imagine carrying a dead seal out?

Bloody heavy I'd suggest :eek:

You'd need a builders "big bag" for a carry sack (or, preferably, a fork lift).
yes the gray seal bulls are big ,when i was shooting seals for there skins ,we used to take the skin along with the blubber ,then when ashore we cut the blubber of the skin over a beam so not to nick the skin ,to clean skin of the carcass was like trying to skin a jelly ,the big bulls we took the skin of in two pieces ,they were too heavy , the beaches were at the foot of cliffs and we took them of with a boat ,the skins were used for making sporrans and some went to Norway, the meat isnt that great to eat very dark oily and stringy apart from a cut you would call silverside on a cow that is lighter and not as oily and very tender i used a 303 service rifle with fixed sights the work was very rough on rifles
 
yes the gray seal bulls are big ,when i was shooting seals for there skins ,we used to take the skin along with the blubber ,then when ashore we cut the blubber of the skin over a beam so not to nick the skin ,to clean skin of the carcass was like trying to skin a jelly ,the big bulls we took the skin of in two pieces ,they were too heavy , the beaches were at the foot of cliffs and we took them of with a boat ,the skins were used for making sporrans and some went to Norway, the meat isnt that great to eat very dark oily and stringy apart from a cut you would call silverside on a cow that is lighter and not as oily and very tender i used a 303 service rifle with fixed sights the work was very rough on rifles

Thanks, Bruce. I now know more than I did when I woke up this morning. Always a good start to the day! :cool:
 
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