Blasket Island visitors should 'exercise some cop-on', says minister

Vivienne Clarke

Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan has called on the public to “exercise some cop on” when they visit the Blasket Islands and to stay away from the seal population.

His comment on RTÉ Radio’s News at One comes in the wake of reports that tourists are disturbing the seals and using the historic home of Peig Sayers as a toilet.

Earlier on the Today with Claire Byrne show, Brock Montgomery who had been a caretaker on the island for six months told of how he had seen a visitor pick up a seal pup, throw it into the ocean and then pick it up to take a selfie photograph.

General wildlife etiquette was frequently ignored by visitors, he said. Very often they would run after seals and chase them away if they were camping on the beach. At first he thought the person had been trying to be helpful in throwing the seal into the water, but then when he saw him taking a selfie, he approached him and had words. “I wasn’t too happy with him.

“I don't know if they clicked in to what they had done because they inadvertently killed that seal pup because the mum would then abandon it, so I don't think they really understood what they were doing – it's a matter of general wildlife etiquette, maybe knowledge as well when coming to the island.”

Mr Montgomery explained that seals are mammals. “They actually live on land, they spend a lot of time in water, but the majority of their life is spent on land. That's their home. Just leave them alone. It's pretty simple.”

The majority of people want to just observe the seals, he added. “But you get one ignorant person a day who wants to scare them all away, it ruins it for the other 200 people. If everybody could just work together, they could preserve the beautiful things on the island.

Mr O’Donovan said that he had recently visited the island and had spoken with the OPW. He was aware that the lack of facilities on the island were an issue that the OPW intended to address and he estimated that they would be in place by the beginning of the tourist season in 2023.

Multilingual signage would also be erected at the boarding point for boats to the islands, on the boats and on the island urging cooperation with regard to wildlife etiquette.

“I’m asking people to exercise cop on and to stay away from [the seals].”