310 BENNET B. RAE 



Moreover, since the passing of the Grey Seals' Protection Acts the extension 

 of Nature Conservancy reserves and of National Trust properties now 

 ensures the protection of large numbers of grey seals throughout the entire 

 year. These are developments w^hich were not foreseen even at the passing 

 of the second Act in 1932. It seems probable, too, that protection of one 

 species has to some extent discouraged hunters who previously made a living 

 by marketing both kinds of seal skins. In the interests of Scottish, and to 

 some extent also of EngUsh fisheries, it would now appear important that 

 seal protection should cease, and consideration should be given to whether 

 seal stocks should be reduced and thereafter maintained at a level which will 

 not interfere unduly with fisheries. At present it is not too clear how this 

 can be achieved but a number of conditions seem to be desirable: 



(i) that a start should be made as soon as possible, 



(2) that the reduction must be substantial, 



(3) that the reduction should cover all seal colonies which have increased in 

 size in recent years, and 



(4) that the reduction should extend over a number of years. 



It is also important that seal stocks should be put to good use and harvested 

 in a rational manner. Professor Ritchie (1920) refers to the intelligent 

 harvesting of a grey seal colony on one of the Inner Hebrides by the monks 

 of St Columba's day — a procedure which Dr Fraser Darling regards as one 

 of the earhest examples of conservation. In the same way, monks from the 

 Northumbrian coast are known to have exploited the grey seals on the 

 Fame Islands. In view of the faciHties now available in this country for the 

 protection of wild hfe when necessary, it should be possible to reduce the 

 numbers of any harmful predator without endangering its survival. 



P^FERENCES 



Buxton, J. & Lockley, R. M. (1948). Seals of the North Atlantic. Geogr. Mag., Land., 20, 173. 



Darling, F. F. (1939). A naturalist on Rona. Oxford; Clarendon Press. 



Darling, F. F. (1947). Natural history in the Highlands and Islands. London; Collins, pp. xv, 303. 



Darling, F. F. (1952). The Atlantic grey seal. Anim. Kingd., 55, 122-6. 



Davies, J. L. (1956). The grey seal at the Isles of Scilly. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 127, 161-6. 



Eggeling, W.J. (1957). The Mammals of the Isle of May. Scot. Nat., 69, 71-74. 



Fisher, H. D. (1950). Seals of the Canadian east coast. Circ. Atlant. biol. Sta., i., 1-4. 



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 Hickling, G. (1958). The grey seals of the Fame Islands. New Scientist, 4, 758-60. 

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 Lockley, R. M. (1954)- The seals and the curragh. London; Dent. 

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