Featured Image Credit: Getty
Recently, the trend of shooting seals in an effort to try and protect the caged salmon population in Scotland has been on a rise. These “salmon farms” are protected by licensed marksmen who are run by independent companies. They employ the shooters to kill grey seals who are said to pose a real risk to caged salmon.
The Scottish Government recently released that Marine Harvest is one company who allows the killing of seals. Big name supermarket stores like Waitrose, M&S, and Sainsbury get their salmon from places where seal killing is allowed. Knowing this, it’s starting to raise eyebrows at these stores.
Marine Harvest, who supplies Waitrose and Sainsbury, and M&S who supplies Scottish Sea Farms, has reportedly shot 40 seals in the last year alone. Even though the grey seal population is in the hundreds of thousands, these killings will certainly add up and take a toll on the population as a whole.
Shockingly, Waitrose, who is a company for green policies, has stated that it is working with companies to limit the number of seal deaths. The supermarket requires that all its farmed salmon suppliers must go to “non-lethal measures to eliminate predators,” this includes seals.
Campaign Director for the Seal Protection Action Group (SPAG), Andy Ottaway, said that there were roughly 1,600 reported seal deaths in Scottish waters alone in the last six years.
“The companies shooting the most seals are Marine Harvest who supply Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, and Scottish Sea Farms who supply Marks and Spencer’s,” said Ottaway. “I don’t think that the public knows that seals are being shot just so that they can eat salmon.”
Because fish has been on such a high demand over the last couple years, farmed salmon is becoming more and more popular. The WFF says that salmon are in a “crisis.”