The seal population in the area from Whitby to just south of Grimsby has soared to more than 125,000 and skippers claim it is having a potentially devastating effect on their livelihood.

But a cull would almost certainly bring a howl of protest from wild life and environmental groups and is unlikely to win much public support, however, pressure is growing and it is believed that fishermen in North Shields and Scotland are also supporting calls for a cull.

Salmon and sea trout fishermen are the worst affected by the huge growth in the seal population, but shell fishermen around Bridlington and Scarborough say their lobster pots have been broken into by the creatures. The seals also follow the boats out to sea and then attack the nets. Adult seals eat an average of two tons of fish a year, which means they are taking 250,000 tons on the east Coast alone.

The authorities are taking the problem seriously and a £15,000 study has been launched by the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee to gauge the size of the seal population and the effect it is having on fishing activity.

The 18-month project is being part funded by the Marine Fisheries Agency, which is part of Defra.

Chief Fisheries Office David McCandless, who doubts whether a large-scale cull would receive sanction from the government, said: "The grant application is to study the impact of seal predation. We're hoping to quantify the impact of the changes to the size of the local seal population." It is likely that alternative methods of discouraging seals will be investigated after completion of the study.

The last major cull took place in the 1970s when rifle marksmen were appointed to kill the seals, but public opinion has changed dramatically since then and a cull in Canada two years ago brought massive protests. Pop superstar Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills, both huge animal lovers, described it as a "strain on the character of the Canadian people."

The seal problem will almost certainly be raised when Joe Borg, the European Fisheries Minister, visits the UK this week. He is due to tour Scotland with Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, who says the expansion in the number of seals is posing a serious threat to fishermen along the entire East Coast.

Christopher Jeffrey, chairman of the North Shields Fishermen's Association, said his members were losing up to half their catch and believes a cull is the only way of tackling the problem.

But Paul Bullimore of the Sea Life Network, which runs a number of seal sanctuaries, said fish stocks were low because of over-fishing and claimed that some fishermen had already started low level culling. "We have to be very vigilant," he added.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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