83 



THE SEALS AT THE FARNE ISLANDS. 



By A. MEEK. 



Some years ago the late Mr. Morley Crossman made complaints 

 at the meetings of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee 

 regarding the destruction to salmon and to the stake nets by seals. 

 From the proximity of the Goswick Salmon Fishery to the head- 

 quarters of the seals at the Fame Islands, it was clear that seals 

 were to be seen in the neighbourhood of the nets, and also that 

 they were occasionally caught in the nets, but the evidence 

 obtainable was not convincing as to the destruction, and the 

 question was allowed to drop. 



It has been raised again, and the suggestion has been made 

 that on the Northumberland coast and in other parts of the 

 country steps should be taken to keep down their numbers. 

 Before such measures are considered and the powers of local 

 authorities and of owners of fisheries enquired into, it would be 

 well to ascertain whether the seal actually is guilty of the 

 depredations complained of. With that in view I have recently 

 sent the following notes to Mr. Fryer of the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries who has taken great interest in the question. 



Seals were at one time very plentiful on the North-east coast. 

 There was a large colony at the mouth of the Tees, but with the 

 development of that region commercially about the middle of 

 last century the colony was much reduced, and it came to an end 

 in the sixties. The only colony now left is the Fame Island 

 colony, about which I have the following information, largely 

 obtained from Mr. J. Douglas, Beadnell. It is mentioned by 

 Wallis (History of Northumberland) and by Mennell and Perkins 

 in their Catalogue of the Mammalia of Northumberland and 

 Durham.* 



♦Trans. Tynes. Nat. Field Club, v. 6, 1863-64, p. 13.5 



