Seals that prey on farmed salmon create human-wildlife conflict around Scottish salmon farms, with lethal control historically used but now replaced by acoustic deterrent devices following legislative change.
The salmon farm seal conflict illustrates the complexity of wildlife welfare management in economic contexts. Seals that predate farm salmon are doing exactly what their predatory nature requires — they are not behaving abnormally but opportunistically. Lethal control causes obvious welfare harm to intelligent, long-lived marine mammals. Non-lethal deterrents including ADDs reduce predation without killing seals but carry their own welfare concern — acoustic devices cause discomfort that constitutes welfare harm even if not lethal. The best welfare outcome involves farm design that reduces seal access through stronger nets and predator exclusion barriers, eliminating the need for either lethal control or acoustic deterrence.