New rules to curb Scottish seal killings

Marine Harvest, which runs a fish farm close by, admitted that it had shot two seals, but did not know how or why the seals were decapitated, according to The Independent on Sunday.

Campaigners claim that up to 5,000 seals are shot by the fisheries industry in Scotland each year. The new rules will prevent fish farmers from shooting seals to protect their stocks for the first time during the closed season, according to a confidential draft of new legal guidelines, the newspaper revealed.

Common and grey seals are supposed to be protected during their respective breeding seasons under the 1970 Conservation of Seals Act. However, it has been claimed that the "netsman's defence" which permits fishermen to kill seals that threaten to damage their equipment, has been used by the growing numbers of fish farms on the Scottish west coast, The Independent on Sunday wrote.