Seal licensing records: 2011-present
Records of seal licenses granted across Scotland since the coming in to force of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.
This document is part of a collection
Marine Scotland received 48 applications for seal licences and 43 licences have been granted. (Three licences are pending approval.)
Table 1 below provides a full breakdown. (This information is correct as of 31 January 2017.)
|
Application Type
|
|
|
Licence Type
|
|
|
|
Seal Management Area
|
Protection of Health and Welfare
|
Prevention of Serious Damage
|
Total
|
Protection of Health and Welfare
|
Prevention of Serious Damage
|
Total
|
|
|
|||||||
East Coast |
0 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
|
Moray Firth |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Orkney & North Coast |
2 |
5 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
|
Shetland |
3 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
|
South-West Scotland |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Western Isles |
7 |
2 |
9 |
7 |
2 |
9 |
|
West Scotland |
13 |
3 |
16 |
13 |
3 |
16 |
|
Grand Total |
27 |
20 |
47 |
27 |
20 |
47 |
The 28 licences issued for protection of health and welfare and one issued for prevention of serious damage, cover a total of 175 individual fish farms.
The maximum number of seals involved is 245 Grey and 113 Common. Table 2 below provides details. This maximum represents less than 0.1% of the Grey Seal population of 120,000 and 0.1% of the minimum Common Seal population of 25,400. (This information is correct as at 31 March 2018.)
TABLE 2a |
Grey Seals | ||||||
Seal Management Area |
Grey Seals Applied For |
PBR* |
Grey Seals Granted |
Grey Seals Shot: Quarter 1 | Grey Seals Shot: Quarter 2 | Grey Seals Shot: Quarter 3 | Grey Seals Shot: Quarter 4 |
East Coast |
33 |
352 |
14 |
0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Moray Firth |
40 |
294 |
18 |
6 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Orkney & North Coast |
128 |
1245 |
56 |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Shetland |
54 |
239 |
44 |
5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
South-West Scotland |
54 |
57 |
12 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Western Isles |
165 | 620 | 37 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
West Scotland |
182 |
777 |
64 |
3 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
Grand Total |
656 |
3584 |
245 |
17 | 3 | 19 | 14 |
The maximum number of Grey Seals allowed on licences granted in 2017 represents over 10% reduction on numbers involved in the previous year's licences, and an over 80% reduction since the system was introduced in 2011.
TABLE 2b |
Common Seals | ||||||
Seal Management Area |
Common Seals Applied For |
PBR* |
Common Seals Granted |
Common Seals Shot: Quarter 1 | Common Seals Shot: Quarter 2 | Common Seals Shot: Quarter 3 | Common Seals Shot: Quarter 4 |
East Coast |
9 |
1 |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Moray Firth |
6 |
4 |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Orkney & North Coast |
13 |
11 |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shetland |
4 |
20 |
3 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
South-West Scotland |
78 |
50 |
13 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Western Isles |
63 | 82 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
West Scotland |
204 |
637 |
81 |
7 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
Grand Total |
377 |
805 |
113 |
7 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
The maximum number of Common Seals allowed on licences granted in 2017 represents a reduction of 1.7% compared to the previous year's licences, and a 64% reduction since the system was introduced in 2011.
*Potential Biological Removal (PBR) is the number of individual seals that can be removed from the population without causing a decline in the population, and is calculated annually by Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) using the latest seal counts.
A full list of licences issued in 2017, by region and company, with the number of seals shot so far, by site, is available to download.
For more information, a series of frequently asked questions and answers on the implementation of the new seal legislation was produced 2011.
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