Sea Shepherd Monitors Gunmen At Crovie

 Aberdeenshire, Environment  1 Response »
Jun 192015
 

Sea Shepherd is welcomed to Gardenstown and Crovie by residents and landowner Marc Ellington – who expressly forbids anyone from shooting seals while on his lands. Why then are these men there with guns trying to kill seals? Sea Shepherd explains. With thanks to Suzanne Kelly.

Jessie Treverton and camera vs seal shooter with gun courtesy of Sea ShepherdBefore you tuck into your wild salmon fillet or smoked salmon sandwich, you might want to consider some other factors bringing that fish to your dinner plate. Birds are often caught and killed in the nets; other fish are trapped, and the Scottish government permits the salmon industry to kill thousands of seals.

The salmon are hauled onto the deck of a boat, gasping and terrified, they are clubbed to death as they suffocate.

Seals were shot in the beautiful, historic coastal village of Gardenstown one year in front of tourists who promptly packed and left, upset by what they had seen.

The town wants its tourists; they come for the wildlife and unspoiled scenery. But not all visitors to Gardenstown are wildlife lovers. Sea Shepherd reports on its latest encounter in the area:

“Seal Defence Campaign Update – Crovie (Gamrie Bay) on 17th June 2015.

“This evening Sea Shepherd’s Seal Defence crew were confronted by two of the Directors/Owners of Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd together with their usual gunman/skipper. The three senior Usan representatives carried two firearms between them, one of which was uncased and ready to shoot seals during the incident which lasted 1.5 hours.

“This is the first time the main directors of the company have travelled to Crovie as they rarely leave their main base at Fishtown of Usan near Montrose. This obvious escalation comes just two days after our crew faced two of their gunmen on the same coastal rocks.

“Our Seal Defence Crew held fast and no seals were killed. In response to this Sea Shepherd will be increasing crew numbers and is bringing in new assets to the area.”

Aberdeen Voice wrote to USAN’s George Pullar today to remind him that his is not allowed to shoot from Ellington’s land. Pullar was also asked to comment on reports that the would-be shooters claim ‘a farmer’ has given them permission.  Ellington has no idea who would be in a position to grant this permission. We will print any reply received.

sea shepherd keeps watchful eye on would be seal shooters courtesy of Sea Shephers

Sea Shepherd keeps watchful eye on would be seal shooters. Courtesy of Sea Shepherd

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[Aberdeen Voice accepts and welcomes contributions from all sides/angles pertaining to any issue. Views and opinions expressed in any article are entirely those of the writer/contributor, and inclusion in our publication does not constitute support or endorsement of these by Aberdeen Voice as an organisation or any of its team members.]

Sea Shepherd UK Crew Thwart Seal Killers

 Environment, Information  No Responses »
May 292015
 

The presence of Sea Shepherd UKs seal defence crew have ensured that no seals were shot on the bank holiday at the small coastal village of Crovie despite attempts by Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd marksmen to do just that. Three employees from Scottish Wild Salmon Company were dispatched to Crovie on the Moray coast to shoot iconic Scottish seals on Monday 25th May. The company hold licences issued by Marine Scotland to shoot seals despite seals being cited as one of Scotland’s Big 5 for wildlife watchers. From Sea Shepherd UK

usan nets gardenstown 27 april 2014

USAN nets – Gardenston 27 April 2014. Picture Credit: Suzanne Kelly

Sea Shepherd land crew assigned to watch the small coastal village of Crovie on Gamrie bay intercept and film three employees of USAN Salmon Fisheries Ltd (AKA: Scottish Wild Salmon Company) at Crovie in Aberdeenshire as they look for seals to kill – but the presence of our crew and our cameras ensured no seals were shot.

The gunman and two other SWSC employees who drove down in their company 4×4 vehicle into the small village of Crovie used the residents only car park and walked along to Crovie pier (followed by Sea Shepherd crew from two directions in plain clothes) with a rifle and ammunition while residents, holiday makers and guests of a wedding that took place this weekend were around the village.

Sea Shepherd campaign crew identified themselves and filmed while the gunman and two assistants looked for seals in front the small village to shoot.

Meanwhile Sea Shepherd boat crew took Sea Shepherd UK’s RIB ‘Mermaid of Makaha’ from Gardenstown Harbour to continue monitoring the same company employees at sea. The Scottish Wild Salmon Company has a permit issued by Marine Scotland (Scottish Government) to shoot dead Scotland’s iconic seals if they interfere with the company’s coastal salmon bag nets or catch.

Seals have been shot previously around Scotland under permit from Marine Scotland, sometimes illegally without permits or outside granted permit conditions to protect the profits of many wild salmon netting companies and also fish farm operations.

The entire seal permit system is totally open to abuse with a complete lack of monitoring in place – except by Sea Shepherd where we are now in our second year of our very successful Seal Defence Campaign around Scotland (and also separately by members of the the Hunt Saboteurs Association who are watching over the seals around the coastline South of Montrose, Angus).

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.

[Aberdeen Voice accepts and welcomes contributions from all sides/angles pertaining to any issue. Views and opinions expressed in any article are entirely those of the writer/contributor, and inclusion in our publication does not constitute support or endorsement of these by Aberdeen Voice as an organisation or any of its team members.]