More than one million salmon being farmed in Scotland will have been killed by seals in two years as of 2021, according to an industry estimate.
Statistics published by trade body Salmon Scotland reveal the extent of seal predation on salmon farms, with attacks costing salmon farmers an average of GBP 12 million (USD 16 million, EUR 14.2 million) a year in lost fish.
The analysis found that 516,443 fish were killed directly in seal attacks in 2020, with hundreds of thousands more dying later due to stress.
In the eight months to the end of August 2021, a further 347,917 salmon were killed directly by seals, taking the total since January 2020 to 864,360.
With four months of figures still to add for 2021, and with seal attacks traditionally peaking in the winter, the total is due to pass one million well before Christmas, Salmon Scotland said.
It added that the salmon killed by seals would have fetched a market price of GBP 12.3 million (USD 16.4 million, EUR 14.6 million) in 2020 and a further GBP 8.4 million (USD 11.2 million, EUR 10 million) in the eight months of 2021 to end of August, a total lost revenue of around GBP 20.7 million (USD 27.7 million, EUR 24.6 million).
Scotland has 210 active salmon farms, with about 70 percent stocked at any one time. Salmon Scotland calculates that this means the average farm lost 2,792 salmon, with a lost harvest revenue of GBP 67,696 (USD 90,437, EUR 80,378), in 2020. The farms went on to lose a further 1,955 fish, with an expected harvest revenue of GBP 47,399 (USD 63,303, EUR 56,276), in the first eight months of this year.
Salmon Scotland Chief Executive Tavish Scott said the seal challenge is getting worse, and he is urging government ministers to sit down with sector leaders to discuss possible solutions.
“There is no easy fix, but we need a dialogue with ministers – and the leaders of other sectors affected – to find ways of tackling what has become an increasingly serious issue for our members,” he said.
Until the start of 2021, salmon farmers could shoot seals as a last resort, with about 50 shot every year to protect stocks. This power has since been removed by Scottish government legislation.
Salmon farmers also used to deploy acoustic devices to scare away seals, but these have now been removed while licensing issues are discussed with Marine Scotland.
According to Salmon Scotland, all of the country’s salmon farmers have invested in new seal-resistant nets, but the seals have found ways of climbing over them, and also attack salmon through the nets.
Scott said there is now a pressing need for a proper dialogue to find a way forward.
“Scotland’s seal population is growing all the time and many of their traditional sources of food are disappearing, partly because of fishing and partly because climate change is driving species further north,” he said. “They are often hungry and desperate, and it is no surprise they do all they can to attack our farms and kill the fish inside the pens.”
Scott said he was not asking for farmers to be allowed to shoot seals again, but instead called for a “proper and mature dialogue” with other interested partners – including the wild-catch fisheries sector and wild salmon interests – to find potential solutions to the problem.
“We cannot forget the duty our farmers have to their fish,” he said. “They have a responsibility to look after them, but they cannot do so if they are unable to stop seal attacks.”
Photo courtesy of Liz Miller
