Grace Hickling

"On 3rd December, 1958, ten calves were killed on the North Wamses, a small island some three miles off the north coast. This was the first licensed killing of grey seals during the breeding season since the passing of the 1932 Grey Seals Protection Act and it was intended to be the first stage of an experimental annual cull of 300 calves, recommended as a means of reducing the grey seal population of the and thereby lessening the damage done by seals to the salmon fishing industry."

"These youngsters appear to have little fear of man for Jack Shiel tells the story of how, on a day in late autumn when they were line fishing for , a young kept helping himself to the best fish while the men were taking the others from the hooks."

"To-day, although numbers of s are still taken—in addition to the some 30,000 yearlings of the are killed each year—the decrease in the number of whales, and the increasing demand for edible oil has meant a growing emphasis on the exploitation of seals for oil."

"In 1949 Grace and Ian Telfer, an member, decided to mark in an attempt to follow their movements. Though s are resident on the , nothing was known about them outside the breeding season. The first seals were tagged in 1951, and within fifteen days the first marked seal was recovered in Norway. This was ground breaking research as no one had realised how far the Grey Seals were traveling."