Seal cull

[bburville]

Some of you may be aware (Countryfile BBC1 today 5th Nov) that fishermen are calling for seal cull! :mad:

They are blaming seals for their reduced catches.

The facts are a little different:

The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), St Andrews Uni recently published a paper confirming that grey seals take on average less than 1% of the total stock biomass (TSB) of fish in the North sea.
Cod they take about 3% of the TSB - why? because the TSB of cod has been depleted so much by overfishing that the % taken by seals is proportionally slightly more.

The real culprit is overfishing driven by mans' greed! The role of factory ships and governement quotas need to be reviewed!
The local fisherman might lose a few fish to seals but the answer, when the "big picture" is reviewed is NOT a seal cull!
Please ensure anyone you speak to about this knows the facts.
Thanks,
Ben. ("Sealdiver")
Seals up close: www.youtube.com/group/marinelife

[tony J]

Please ensure anyone you speak to about this knows the facts.

1. You obviously have strong views on this, and probably would be against seal culls even if they were taking a lot of fish.

2. I do not think I can make sure all my friends "know the facts" based on your post as you have not given a URL to the facts. You have told us that a university published a (peer reviewed ?) paper, nothing further- are there papers claiming the opposite. What is the body of evidence ?. This is not very scientific, and we can only come to conclusions based on evidence not feeling.

If I said the Germans ate babies or sadam Hussein caused the needless deaths of babies in Gulf war I, many would believe it without asking for evidence (http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html)

Tony

ps I'm sure I agree with your viewpoint, just not the presentation.

[bburville]

http://smub.st-and.ac.uk/Media.htm/HammondDiets.html

In case you want the full reference.

Just for the record - "Yes" I would be against a cull for any reason. Man continually takes more than needed and greed has its price.
The answer is larger marine reserves, respected by all countries, limits on fish quotas to allow recovery and if deemed appropriate by our society short term subsidies for small scale fisherman who have lost out due to the activies of factory trawlers.

Best regards,
Ben. ("Sealdiver")

www.youtube.com/group/marinelife