Seal populations in the North Atlantic have recovered dramatically following hunting bans, but this recovery has created conflicts with fisheries that generate welfare problems through entanglement, shooting, and population management debates.
Seal welfare in coastal waters reflects the complex interface between recovered wildlife populations and human economic activities. Seals shot around fish farms experience the most acute and preventable welfare harm — deaths that serve economic rather than conservation purposes and that non-lethal deterrents could in many cases replace. Entanglement causes slower, more distressing drowning deaths. The welfare case for prioritising non-lethal deterrence around aquaculture, reducing bycatch entanglement, and supporting stranding response networks is clear and achievable without threatening either seal conservation or fishing livelihoods.