Salmon farmers in the UK are facing a big problem: public backlash for the culling of seals. The Independent UK revealed that more than half of Scotland's salmon farms had shot and killed a seal in the past two years. This was done to protect the industry which is estimated to be worth £500m a year in exports.
The statistics were released after a lengthy four year legal battle between conservationists and authorities. Once the information was out, campaigners called for a boycott of the salmon farms which were responsible for the culling of 180 seals between 2013 and 2014.
This "naming and shaming" by conservationists was vehemently opposed by the farmers as these could have "reprisals" and, they reason, the seal culling was only done as a last resort. Also, as proof of their commitment to protecting the species, seal culling had already halved since 2011.
Seals are a protected species but some licenses for their legal culling are released every year. These licenses are granted when all other measures such as acoustic deterrents and netting have already failed. Seals attack nets and eat the salmon produced in these aquaculture farms.
Don Staniford, director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture, said that, "Scottish salmon is dripping with the blood of dozens of seals." His group had won the legal proceedings regarding seal culling and the seal-killing farms had been named, particularly Scottish Sea Farms, which accounted for the most seals killed since 2013, as reported by The Herald Scotland.
The government backed the farmers in the protection of the statistics but conservationists scored a win over this one. Campaigners have also begun to write to US supermarkets and the Department of Commerce. They seek an end to the supply of Scotland's seal culling salmon farmers to these places. It must be noted that the American market accounts for close to half of the entire Scottish salmon sales.
