Madam, - The figure of 200,000 tonnes that Arthur Reynolds (March 2nd) suggests to be the annual seal-related fish kill in the North Sea is very much at the upper end of most estimates and is not widely accepted outside the fishing industry. Moreover, the figure pales in comparison to the estimated total annual North Sea fisheries catch of 2.1 million tonnes (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Environmental Status of the European Seas Report, 2003).
It is worth noting that while the native seal population failed for thousands of years to prevent the North Sea and the north Atlantic from becoming among the most plentiful marine environments in the world, it has taken humans little more than 50 years to reduce the fish populations of these areas to tiny percentages of their original numbers.
In this light, perhaps we should reconsider which species most deserves a "humane cull"? - Is mise le meas,
NICK HILLIARD, De Courcey Square, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.