Seals are marvelous creatures that should be allowed to live long lives in the wild. Everyone has probably seen seals acting foolish and following direction at sanctuaries and sea parks. Many of the seals in the sanctuaries and sea parks are there because they can’t make it on their own in the wild. They live their lives in peace but they are also educating people. Too many people are unaware that seals are an endangered marine species like many other animals of the sea. They make their living on the sea and need to have fish and clean water to survive and to live and breed. They don’t always get what they need. Too often manmade forces get in the way. Pollution and overhunting are causing problems with seal numbers.

Seals in the UK

There are two species of seals in the UK. One is the grey seal and has pretty good numbers compared to the common or harbor seal. Even though the numbers are alright for now, they are starting to go down. This is a bad sign for seal populations. Around the world seal populations are being decimated by hunting or culling. Canada tops the list by allowing over 300,000 seals to be killed every year. Some years the numbers are even higher, yet seal populations are not increasing. In a few years the seals in Canada will be facing hard times and extinction.

In the UK seals are being killed off by fishermen even though an Act was put into place in 1970. Seals are supposed to be protected yet fishermen are getting away with hunting them and killing them. They claim seals are damaging their fisheries. They could prevent this if they would just use anti-predator nets to protect their fish. Other fishermen shoot and kill seals because of the competition for fish. Seals account for 2% of the fish taken every year and fishermen account for 25%. So who is causing the depletion of the fish?

How to Save Seals

You can help to save the seals of the UK and Canada. If you stop buying products that use seal ingredients, you can boycott the sales of the products. This could make it unproductive for Canada to allow seal hunting. Many countries have already made it illegal to buy any product that seals were used to make. This is true of the US and several other countries in Europe.

You can petition fishermen so they are required to install the special anti-predator nets. This will save the lives of thousands of seals every year. Fishermen have got to stop and think about what they are claiming. They are responsible for much of the loss of fish species. Pollution and climate change also have a big effect on fish species. Visit seal sanctuaries to see what you can do to help. Often just a visit will help with the money you spend for entrance. This small fee will go towards helping seals to thrive. There are also many projects that you can volunteer for.

To help support the threats against seals, visit the Cornwall seal sanctuary where you can buy Gweek seal sanctuary vouchers.

To help support the threats against seals, visit the http://www.visitsealife.com/Gweek/ Cornwall seal sanctuary where you can buy http://www.visitsealife.com/Gweek/buy-tickets/ Gweek seal sanctuary vouchers.

Author Bio: To help support the threats against seals, visit the Cornwall seal sanctuary where you can buy Gweek seal sanctuary vouchers.

Category: Society
Keywords: endangered marine species, marine species, seal populations