Seal licensing system: third review

4. Marine wildlife conservation

4.1 Legislation protecting wild seals

In Scotland, seals are protected under the 2010 Act, which prohibits the killing or taking of seals unless under licence or for the purpose of alleviating suffering. Seal Conservation Areas (SCAs) have also been established in the Western Isles, Northern Isles, Moray, and East Coast which have been designated to ensure the proper conservation of seals ^[2].

Both grey and harbour seals are also protected under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended), which require Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to be designated for their protection. There are currently 16 SACs designated specifically for seals in Scotland, and seals are features of qualifying interest in an additional seven SACs^[3].

4.2 Legislation protecting wild Atlantic salmon

As is the case across its global range, Scotland’s wild Atlantic salmon have declined significantly over the past 50 years and in 2023 were reclassified as 'endangered' in Great Britain by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).^[4]

Scotland's wild salmon conservation legislation, primarily the Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 2016, manages the killing of salmon in inland waters by annually categorizing rivers based on their conservation status and prohibits the retention of salmon caught in coastal waters. In Scotland, salmon returning to rivers in the spring have been a particular conservation concern and the Scottish Government has put in place national conservation measures to protect these vulnerable stocks. In addition, the most recent assessment for the 2025 fishing season classifies 153 out of 212 assessed rivers as in poor conservation status^[5].

Conservation concerns have led to several management actions, including the publication of the Scottish wild salmon strategy in January 2022 and the Implementation plan in February 2023. The Implementation plan was developed with stakeholders to guide collective action for wild Atlantic salmon and sets out, in detail, actions to be taken over a five-year period.

4.3 Seal-salmon interactions in rivers

Predation by a number of species, including seals, has been identified as one of 13 pressures on wild Atlantic salmon, therefore a reduction in levels of predation from seals may help improve the conservation status of salmon in Scottish rivers. While work is ongoing to explore the efficacy of new non-lethal measures (Section 5), in some limited cases lethal management of seals may be required from a salmon conservation perspective where non-lethal options are unsuccessful.