OF SEALS AND SHAGS
By S. L. BENSUSAN
THE case Of' the Atlantic (grey) seal has been brought in.orninently before lavers of wild life once again, since the complaints of Coinfsh fishermen Were investigated by a Committee of the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture under the expert guidance of Mr. Henry Maurice. Various claims were advanced by friends and advocates of fishermen, some very extravagant ones among them. Just as the game- keeper has been brought up to regard the kestrel, hedgehog and grass snake as his enemies, so simple fisherfolk have been brought up to think of the Atlantic (grey) seal as something that will destroy their catch or alternatively prevent it from becoming a catch by driving it from the neighbourhood of nets. If fishermen are having a bad time, the presence of the Atlantic seal on their hunting grounds is held to account for it.
. At the enquiry various statements were made, among them one that there are about two thousand of these seals on the coast of North Cornwall. Later on an expert official investigator who went through the area and even examined the caves in which these strange and interesting creatures dwell—an exciting and hazardous undertaking—reported that he had seen 117 seals and estimated- the maximum at something between 300 and 500. For South Wales Mr. Lockley gave the figure of 350, for the Scilly Isles Major Dorrien Smith suggested 100, but no evidence was forthcoming at the enquiry to show that nets are robbed on the north Cornish coast ; 'indeed it was said that seals are seldom found in drift nets. Because fishermen have a traditional hostility to seals, because there was a time when seal-oil was- used for dressing- harness and because the pelt is still used for sporrans, cartridge bags and mats; persecu- tion has been indiscriminate and hunting expeditions are. organised in the early aittunm when many Mother seals are clubbed to death and many babies left to starve. Men armed with rifles shoot the Atlantic seal of the Cornish coast without even the excuse of needing skin or oil, and indeed the majority of • animals so destroyed sink to the sea bed and are irrecoverable.
It was in order to put a stop to foul practices that the Grey Seals Protection Act was passed in 1932, giving the animals respite from persecution between September 1st and December 31st in every year and imposing penalties rising as high as £10 per offence on conviction. Unfor- tunately this Act, like so many others, is more -honoured in the breach than in the observance ; Mr. Seton Gordon writing a month or two ago after a personal investigation of conditions on the Isle of Seals in the Outer Hebrides, reported that he had found six pups that had been knocked on the head or left to starve after their mothers had been butchered. There is reason to fear that the existence of Atlantic grey seals is threatened though they have devel- oped certain protective instincts, and when at play keep a. sentry on the watch whose flipper strikes the water to sound a note of alarm. Rooks and wild geese, by the way, are among the birds that post sentinels.
The Atlantic seal is one of the most interesting of our mammals, and although remorselessly persecuted, is - protected by a few communities of fishermen who will neither destroy them nor help " sportsmen " to do so. All manner of strange beliefs surround the Atlantic seals of the Western Isles. Some believe that the folk of a• certain diminishing clan,. the" MacOdrum " pass at death into the bodies of these animals. Others declare that after. the metamorphosis, the seals go on certain nights to secluded- bays, shake off their skins and in human guise dance to the music of fairy. orchestras. These beliefs are relics. of pre-Christian times.
A practical point in favour of the Atlantic (grey) seals, and one less likely to be disputed by sceptics, is that they eat one of the fisherman's worst, enemies, the dog-fish ; some, indeed, say this is the food they like best.. Seals breed in the early autumn and the necessity for enforcing the Act that exists to protect them is obvious enough. But while it is not easy to exercise control over happen- ings in the Cornish waters, it is still more difficult to protect seals in the Outer Hebrides. Very often the men who slaughter them are the only people who know where they are to be found and also the only people who can take advantage of favourable weather conditions. Many of the islands are almost impossible to gain in rough weather save by men familiar with every trick and turn of the tides. At the same time some steps to make an Act of Ptrliament effective might well be called for by lovers of wild life, and it is at least possible that the destruction of the Atlantic seal would be followed by a great increase in the numbers of dog-fish.
It is worth noting that at the Conference already referred to, Mr. Maurice, the Secretary of the Fisheries Division, stated bluntly his objection to killing adult " selkies," as the Atlantic seals are called in Scotland, and leaving their pups to die of starvation. It is hoped that his office will take what steps may be taken in conjunction with the Scottish authorities to put an end to conditions that credible observers have . revealed. The Atlantic or Grey seal (Halichoerus Grypus) prefers the western coast of these islands, hence the tendency to call -them Atlantic rather than 'grey seals, but they have been found near Colchester on the east coast where their presence is not associated with any superstitious beliefs and they arc regarded with • more curiosity than resentment.
Sometimes I think that credulity is cruelty's twin brother ; it is safe to say that so soon as any bird or beast acquires a bad name it is subject to merciless attack. The shag, sonnetiines- known as the green cormorant because -it is very much like the bigger bird, though its plumage has a greener tinge, and it carries less while below the head, provides another case in point from an area where the Atlantic seal suffers senseless perseeution.
In 1911 nervous protectors of fisheries in the West -Of England decided to give a shilling a head for all Shag§ and cormorants sent in, on the' ground that they were ruining the fisherfolk, and in the next four years 4,200 heads were paid for. • Then the subsidy was disethitintied and Was not forthcoming again till 1925. Between that date and 1929, 6,700 birds Were killed, but the 'Fishery official who testified on the subject was conciliated to say that no evidence had been submitted 'tO-.ShoW' that this slaughter had brought "benefit to the fisheries. Tor four years following 1929, shags and cormorantg to the number of about 250 were shot and Sent for examination by an expert ; it was found that out of .188 shags Only five had eaten fiat fli,h, and that their Chief food' cOnSiStS of sand eels, wrassies, blennieS; dragonets and Other fiSh that are not marketable.. The corniorant, on the 'other hand, takes- 'about50 per cent, of its food in- edible WI; but cormorants are not nearly so common as shags; indeed While 220 shags were being exainined only 30cormorants were collected. Clearly then the shags were slatightered without excuse, and it may be suggested that 'there are not enough cormorants to justify persecution.
No 'bird 'Or beast might to be destrOyed before. thorough scientific' examination has made. out a case for. action.- While we do not know all the purposes seilfea living thing it is extremely dangerous to 'seek to alter the balances of nature.
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