§ Mr. Grimondasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, instead of slaughtering baby seals in Orkney, he will arrange if necessary that seals preying on salmon should be shot in the salmon rivers.
§ Mr. MillanThe shooting of predatory seals at salmon nets is already normal practice but such measures do not provide an effective means of limiting the increasing population of grey seals or the damage they do to stocks of sea fish as well as salmon. Grey seals rarely enter salmon rivers but for reasons of safety I would not in any case encourage shooting in rivers.
§ Mr. Grimondasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what evidence he has that 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes of salmon are eaten each year by seals in coastal waters; and whether this includes all coastal waters.
§ Mr. MillanMy estimate that the weight of salmon taken by grey seals in the Orkney area could be between 2,000 and 3,000 tonnes per annum is based on scientific evidence provided by the sea mammal research unit of the Natural Environment Research Council and by my own Department's scientists at the marine laboratory in Aberdeen. I will send the right hon. Member a copy of a paper on the subject presented to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
The Orkney seal population of approximately 14,500 is estimated to consume 15 lbs. of set fish—including salmon—per day per animal. My estimate of the quantity of salmon taken was based on a limited analysis of the diet of seals captured in coastal areas. These estimates relate only to the seal population of the Orkney islands and exclude fish taken 609W by seals elsewhere around the United Kingdom.