Thursday, 5th February 2009
Fishermen’s fate is sealed
While an army of bureaucrats sit snugly behind their desks in Brussels planning the latest system of micro-management to plague the lives of Europe's fishermen, there is an unspoken rule that no-one can mention the word 'seal'.
Fishermen can be told to limit their catches under strict Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and Quota regulations, or to restrict the days they spend at sea. They can be ordered to reduce their engine size and increase the mesh size on their nets. They can be monitored by satellites from outer space and every fish they catch registered in electronic logbooks.
But the doe-eyed seals, beloved by the public and ruthlessly exploited for their earning power by the animal welfare NGOs, are allowed to do as they please.
In 1914 there were around 500 seals in UK waters. Today there are more than 150,000 grey seals and 60,000 common seals. By 2012 it is estimated that the grey seal population will have grown to over 210,000.
Grey seals eat roughly two tonnes of fish each every year. That's an astonishing 300,000 tonnes of cod, haddock, herring or mackerel annually. Common seals eat a bit less, but scientists estimate the UK population will devour around 1 tonne of fish each per year, so that's another 60,000 tonnes. So 360,000 tonnes of fish are being eaten by the UK seal population annually and no-one is allowed to say a thing about it.
Fishermen calculate the loss to their industry at almost £3 billion. So why do we tolerate commercial losses on this mammoth scale?
Because it is politically incorrect to mention seals in case anyone gets upset. It's just not PC to point out that these sea mammals are actually ruthless and merciless killers with voracious appetites.
So while fishermen were told to limit the amount of North Sea cod they caught last year to some 8,600 tonnes and total haddock catches were limited to 31,700 tonnes for conservation purposes, seals were allowed happily to munch their way through several hundred thousand tonnes! It is preposterous and illogical.
Now, instead of addressing the problem posed by an unsustainable seal population, the European Parliament is debating a plan by Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, to implement a total ban on seal fur products. The message is crystal clear. Fishermen are expendable. Seals apparently are not.
