Abstract
THE Fishery Board of Scotland recently issued a notice to fishermen and others directing attention to the protection afforded to the grey seal under the Grey Seals Protection Act of 1914, which lays open to a penalty of 5. any person taking, killing, or wounding grey seals during a close season, October 1-December 15. The publication of the notice has led to correspondence in the Scottish newspapers, the protection of this seal being condemned on the ground that it is increasing in numbers and is responsible for the destruction of some of the Hebridean cod fisheries. The weight of the evidence, however, seems to indicate that the grey seal is very rapidly decreasing in numbers on the west coast, and that the constant slaughter of the young in certain breeding haunts, their pelts being sent in considerable numbers to furriers in Glasgow, threatens the existence of the species in these waters. As regards the destruction of fisheries, the assertion is made that dog-fish and not cod form the diet of the seal, and that the destruction of seals and consequent increase of dogfishes are responsible for the deficiency of cod. The point is an important one, which is left undecided by the assertions of the correspondents. It might readily be settled by the examination, by an expert in fragmentary fish remains, of a few series of stomach contents taken at appropriate seasons.
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Current Topics and Events. Nature 114, 832–836 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114832b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114832b0