HC Deb 20 July 1964 vol 699 cc20-1W
60. Commander Kerans

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he intends to authorise the next cull of grey seals; and what was the cost of the last cull to Her Majesty's Government.

Mr. Soames

I have decided, in accordance with a recommendation received from the Consultative Committee on Grey Seals and Fisheries and as announced last May, to authorise a further cull of grey seals on the Farne Islands this year.

The cost of the last cull, excluding salaries and travelling, was £1,000 approximately.

Commander Kerans

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the skins of the last cull of grey seals were given to a commercial firm; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Soames

The bodies from the last cull of grey seals were sold for a nominal sum to a commercial firm, on the understanding that it disposed of them. The nominal sum was arranged because of the risks involved through both the firm's inexperience of conditions on the Farne Islands and our own inability to tell it the numbers and types of seals that would be available. This, I estimate, saved the Government between £300 and £400, which it would have cost us to have disposed of the bodies ourselves.