'EU and Chinese Supertrawlers Destroy Fisheries Not Seals'

News from the Mannin Branch of the Celtic League:

Mannin branch environmental officer (Allen Moore) has reacted sharply to the controversy earlier this week about the shooting of seals off Scotland.

He says local fishermen are using seals as scapegoats and it is actually the predatory action of huge super trawlers from the EU and China that is destroying indigenous fishing communities globally.

Here is his statement:

“I read Monday's article about the shooting of seals in Scotland with more than a little shock. Those doing the shooting were reported as not even being able to do the “job” properly, not immediately killing all of the animals they shoot. While people protesting about the killing of seal pups in Canada, for example, have been accused of being motivated by the physical appearance of the animals, causing seal pups to be mother-less and starving to death is hardly civilised behaviour.

I know that fishermen everywhere are concerned for their livelihoods, and the same goes with those who farm fish in sea lochs along Scotland's coasts. Politics haven't helped the fishing industry despite greater than ever markets for the fish. BBC's Radio 4 news programme “World at One” on Monday included an interview with a fisherman in Cornwall who saw the vote for the UK to leave the European Union, including by 56% of those who voted in Cornwall, as an opportunity to get the coasts back, as he put it.

Seals are very much scapegoats in all this. If there weren't fish in the seas, the seals wouldn't be there, either. It is a basic law of ecology, the availability of prey is reflected in the population of predatory species.

The real threat to all our fishing industries is from overfishing, and none more so than by huge super trawlers, such as those owned by conglomerates in the European Union and China which sweep up everything off the western coasts of Europe, the Pacific and North Africa. The greed of the owners of these ships ignores the fact that local people might want some of the fish from their own waters.

Allen Moore,
Celtic League Mannin Branch,
Environmental Officer”

Image: Canada’s seal cull was condemned years ago but is the Scottish seal cull any less vicious.

BERNARD MOFFATT
Public Relations Officer Mannin Branch

Issued by: The Mannin branch of the Celtic League.

TEL: 01624 877918 or 07624 491609

07/09/16

THE CELTIC LEAGUE

The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries including our own Mannin branch. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues