The days are lengthening, the clocks are about to spring forward, and it’s time to LOOK OUT for SEALS again. OneKind is asking supporters in Scotland to tell the Scottish Government about seal haul-out sites which need protection.
This week, the Scottish Government issued its proposed list of designated seal haul-out sites around Scotland’s coast. Under s.117 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 it will be an offence to harass seals at these sites.
Haul-outs, where seals come out of the water to rest, sleep, give birth and care for their young, can vary from a sunny sandbank with dozens of basking seals, to a jagged rock with a single seal balanced on top. Because of this diversity, MSPs decided that haul-outs should be defined by designating specific sites. A significant task for government advisors, but not impossible, as seals use the same sites for generations and their presence is usually well known locally or through survey work.
OneKind campaigned vigorously for the amendments that brought in this provision. The original proposal, lodged by Elaine Murray MSP, was for new offences of disturbing or harassing seals, or obstructing access to haul-out sites. Expert advice from seal biologist Dr Sue Wilson highlighted problems of people approaching seals on foot, in vehicles, in boats and canoes, causing them to flee into the water. There was also deliberate chasing of seals, sometimes firing shotguns or making other noises to frighten them.
The effects of this disturbance are serious. Dependent pups become separated from their mothers who may not be able to find them again, and these pups die. There can be conflict as distressed mothers try to return to their pups, resulting in pups being injured or abandoned. Frequent disturbance can result in seals abandoning the haul-out site.
In view of these concerns, it seemed only fair to offer seals the same comprehensive protection against disturbance and harassment that the law provides for cetaceans.
The committee considering the original amendment was not so sure. They worried about unintended consequences, about dog walkers who inadvertently disturbed a seal on the beach. They worried about the definition of a haul-out.
So out went “disturbance” and in came a power for Ministers to designate recognised haul-out sites by order. That would make the law clear, and enforceable – if less comprehensive.
The consultation now proposes 146 haul-outs for protection, including 101 common seal, 39 grey seal and 6 shared sites. According to the Sea Mammal Research Unit, the sites are said to be home to at least 50% of each species.
The problem, as we see it, is that the Scottish Government has not compiled a comprehensive list of known haul-outs, but has selected sites for designation. It has focussed “on those haul-out sites that offered an optimum balance between maximising protection for the largest number of seals while minimising possible impacts on other sustainable activities around the coast” and excluded “the additional large numbers of smaller haul-out sites that contained fewer seals”.
Fewer sites have been proposed for grey seals “since they tend to form larger groups than common seals”. It is hard to see what that has that to do with protecting sentient individuals from harassment.
S.117 does not ask the Scottish Government to strike a balance. The aim of designation, as we understood it, was simply so that we would all know what a haul-out was. Yet the government has excluded large numbers of sites that it knows, and acknowledges, to be haul-out sites.
If this is not put right, the effect of designation could be that hundreds of known, but non-designated, sites become default harassment zones – and that was never the intention of the legislation.
The only way to ensure this does not happen is for as many people as possible to submit details of the sites that they know of where seals haul out to rest, and request their inclusion in the list. Then it will be up to the Scottish Government to explain how, if at all, it can justify excluding those sites.
Please respond to the consultation and you can also see the list on our website. Please, if you know of a site that should be protected, send a response.