Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

Chapter 22
Ron mor : the Great Seal, 1958-63
I
n 1959 I was appointed to the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food
(MAFF) Consultative Committee on Grey Seals and Fisheries as one of two
Independent Members; and became involved in Grey Seal management in
relation to the fish stocks around the British Isles. I remained a member until l966.
Dr E Barton Worthington (Deputy Director, the Nature Conservancy) was
Chairman, and later a member of the NUTAE Committee and Director of the
International Biological Programme (IBP)). He was one of those who persuaded
me later to take up work in Africa (Book II). I first met Dr John Morton Boyd (later
Director for Scotland, Nature Conservancy Council) on this committee.
Through this association, I made an exciting field trip to the seal island of
North Rona. I joined a Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) Expedition to North
Rona, organised by Morton Boyd. Our objective was to make a census of the grey
seal population, the largest colony of this species in the world, to brand as many
pups as we could for long term study and make other observations. There were
four of us. We were landed with our supplies by Fishery cruiser Brenda, lived in a
prehistoric stone hut, got water from a well on the cliff and kept in touch by radio
telephone with the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse. The weather was characterized by
frequent North Atlantic gales and huge waves. I sampled an esoteric selection of
malt whiskies and was introduced to the Scottish “bap”. And we studied various
aspects of the biology of grey seals.
So it was that I left home at 8.30 am on 8 October and Morton met me at
Edinburgh. He was the Regional Officer of the Nature Conservancy for the West of
480