Sea Shepherd volunteers witness seal shootings in Scotland (watch video)

The following is a video release from Sea Shepherd UK to raise public awareness of the hidden cost of Scottish Salmon. Hundreds of Scotland’s seals have been shot dead under permits issued by Marine Scotland (part of the Scottish Government).

https://vimeo.com/131362115

This video was filmed at Crovie in Gamrie Bay, Aberdeenshire on the 2nd June. The release of the video was delayed until yesterday due to a police enquiry

Seal Permits are issued to wild salmon netting companies and fish farms around Scotland.

Seal permit information and statistics is withheld from the public and conservation groups by the government.

There is no monitoring of the seal permit holders and the entire system is open to abuse by companies.

Since the second year of Sea Shepherd UK’s Seal Defence Campaign started in April there have so far just been two instances of shooting at seals around Gamrie Bay, both in the last month. This is the only incident where Sea Shepherd UK can confirm seals were definitely shot dead at Crovie despite the best efforts of Sea Shepherd crew being present. There have been many other unsuccessful attempts by the fishermen to shoot seals at Crovie in recent weeks thanks to constant patrols by Sea Shepherd crew from many different nations.

This is legal in Scotland.

The gunman (skipper) and three crew around him are from the Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd boat ‘Gamrie Lass’ based at nearby Gardenstown Harbour.

The Sea Shepherd volunteers in the video were from Scotland, England and Spain.

For more information about Sea Shepherd UK, visit www.seashepherd.org.uk.