New non-lethal weapon to control fur seals
The killing of nuisance seals and sea lions for the protection of farmed fish is a practice that for obvious reasons is frowned upon by not only the public at large and environmental groups, but the fish farmers themselves would much rather have access to one or more reliable means of separating their fish from various types of wildlife. This has been done successfully in many regions, such as in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, where years ago many sea lions were killed through the interaction with farm installations. Other attempts have not been as effective, for example the long-term use of underwater sound-generating devices, which in many cases turned out to be useless once the seals or sea lions got used to the sound.
As Nick Clark of The Mercury in Tasmania explains, local salmon farmer Tassal has been trying a super-charged type of pepper spray to discourage fur seals from attacking their farms, but an environmental group seem more concerned about the welfare of the seals than that of the farms’ fish or staff;
The World Wildlife Fund yesterday expressed concern about the potential use of capsicum spray on protected Australian fur seals by the fish-farming industry. WWF-Australia and Atlantic salmon farmer Tassal formed a partnership in 2011 and Tassal released its first sustainability charter bearing the WWF logo early this year. Under the partnership, the euthanizing of fur seals was ceased. The salmon industry is pushing for the use of a super-strength capsicum spray against large and aggressive male seals who threaten staff near fish farms. However, the move has been stymied by Tasmania Police concerns about the spray falling into the wrong hands.
"The use of capsicum spray would be a concern to WWF unless there was clear evidence of its proven effectiveness and evidence that there is no lasting harm to seals from its use," WWF Australia national media manager Charles Stevens said yesterday. "This evidence would need to be produced independently of the salmon farming industry and be accompanied by independently reviewed animal welfare and OH&S protocols. We were not aware of the use of capsicum spray as it was not at the time of signing the charter and still is not a part of Tassal's operations."
He said any potentially adverse interactions with threatened, endangered, protected species or other wildlife concerned WWF. In its annual report released last Thursday Tassal said seals remained a significant challenge for the company. "Managing seal interactions is a complex, costly and ever-changing challenge for us with no easy answer," the report said. "We continue to monitor seals and seal interactions extremely closely as effective management of this issue is a matter of critical importance."
The State Government-approved spray is 35 per cent pepper compared with the 5 per cent used on humans.
