Paul Watson Foundation UK (Formerly Sea shepherd UK) Confronts Seal Killers on the North Coast of Scotland

📁 Archive Document — Historical Record

This article was first published when our charity's original name/branding as 'Sea Shepherd UK' prior to our name change on 18th May 2023 following the removal of Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd entities worldwide (with the exception of the UK, France and Brazil).

Captain Paul Watson remains a member of our Board, and our charity continues to uphold its founding principles of non-violent direct action marine conservation.

This article and its contents are the property of the 'Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK' and forms part of our 21 year history.

 Learn more at paulwatsonfoundation.uk/new-name

On Sunday the 3rd of August, three members of Paul Watson Foundation UK's Seal Defence Campaign team deployed to the Thurso area on the North coast of Scotland in response to reports of shot seals at Dunnet & Murkle Bays. Almost immediately on arrival our crew — who had gone to the location intending to be covert — had to break their cover and be identified as Paul Watson Foundation UK crew in order to prevent seals being shot by two employees of USAN Salmon Fisheries Ltd (AKA Scottish Wild Salmon Company).

The Paul Watson Foundation UK reconnaissance crew had gone to survey Murkle Bay on the Sunday and were surprised to discover the Murkle Bay leader nets deployed. Our crew encountered a Scottish Wild Salmon Company employee with a dog (next to a SWSC sign-written truck and company marked bins) and this employee soon moved away. Our team noticed SWSC employees on the beach and one with a rifle who was actively shooting from the land over the water (our team witnessed the distinctive noise of a shot being fired from a rifle fitted with a suppressor).

One of the Scottish Wild Salmon Company employees was openly carrying a rifle (with telescopic sight and fitted with a large suppressor) while the other was carrying a gun case and a green case of ammunition. Both employees of the Scottish Wild Salmon Company have been identified and indeed encountered before (see: http://www.seashepherd.org.uk/news-and-media/2014/04/21/violent-seal-killers-threaten-sea-shepherd-crew-caught-on-camera-1576) by our Seal Defence Crew at Gardenstown (Gamrie Bay) in April to June 2014 when we successfully prevented any further killing of seals at that location.

Two Paul Watson Foundation UK crew members managed to position themselves between the SWSC employees and their targets, refusing the seal killers' demands to "leave the area" — which is actually a public beach accessed by public right of ways.

Photo 1 – The two employees of the Scottish Wild Salmon Company being blocked from shooting seals by a member of our campaign crew (Sunday 3rd August 2014)

After a 30 minute standoff, the Scottish Wild Salmon Company employees left the beach and subsequently called the police. Our crew also contacted the police to report that SWSC were engaged in netting of Salmon during the weekend despite fishing regulations stating that their leader nets (which guide wild salmon into the main bag net) have to be removed from the water to allow some wild salmon to make it past the nets over the weekend.

One of the SWSC employees admitted they were actively fishing during the Sunday and therefore flouting the regulations. SWSC are well aware of this restriction as it has been in place for over 20 years and is even detailed on SWSC's own website at: http://www.usansalmon.com/catch.html

Photo 2 – The first visit by the Police Scotland officers as initiated falsely by the SWSC employees

In addition the Scottish Wild Salmon Company employees were shooting seals on the Sunday when there is not meant to be any active salmon netting. Therefore they were shooting seals either for sport or to protect their illegal catch of wild Salmon. Paul Watson Foundation UK is investigating whether this breaches the conditions under which they were granted a licence to shoot seals under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.

Our team do not know if any seals were killed prior to their intervention though one of the SWSC employees asked if our team had managed to film him killing a seal earlier (we presume in reference to the shot our team had heard).

Paul Watson Foundation UK will be patrolling the shores for evidence of shot seals during this phase of the campaign and indeed our crew did this Sunday afternoon find a seal dead, approx 100m along the shoreline from where these two SWSC employees were located, which appeared to have been shot a few days earlier. The dead seal was reported to the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMASS) and following a call from our team was also inspected by the local area coordinator for British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and an employee of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA).

Photo 3 – The dead grey seal found by a member of our team approximately 100 metres from the Scottish Wild Salmon Company marksman on Sunday 3rd August 2014

Photo 4 – Initial evidence that the grey seal was shot in the head (currently awaiting post mortem report)

Paul Watson Foundation UK is deploying further campaign crew to two further locations around the coast of Scotland while sending reinforcements to the Thurso area. The Paul Watson Foundation UK team launched a boat at Castletown this Monday and have a further fast vessel arriving in the area shortly. Paul Watson Foundation UK also now has a permanent monitoring presence in the Gamrie Bay area with a small fast RIB based at Gardenstown Harbour.

Photo 5 – Paul Watson Foundation UK vessel on patrol (Monday 4th August 2014) in Dunnet Bay — shortly to be joined by a Paul Watson Foundation UK RIB

Paul Watson Foundation UK is offering a £5,000 reward for photographic or video evidence which directly leads to the successful prosecution of employees, representatives, contractors or agents of the Scottish Wild Salmon Company (USAN Salmon Fisheries Limited) or ANY companies or individuals for illegally killing Scotland's iconic seals.