The report is divided into five inter-related sections. After a general introduction in Section 1, Sections 2 and 3 present the available information describing the current state of knowledge and practice in efforts to control seal predation on salmonids: Section 2 covers predation control methods in rivers; Section 3 covers predation control methods at marine finfish farms. Some of the methods will be relevant to both river fisheries and finfish farms, but the physical and operational differences mean that applications will generally differ. This has inevitably led to some duplication, but this has been kept to a minimum.

Many of the deterrence methods described in Sections 2 and 3 will either depend on or will be better targeted and more efficient when paired with effective seal detection systems. As similar methods will be applicable to seal detection in rivers and at finfish farms, Section 4 presents a summary of information on available methods for the detection of seals in both situations.

Section 5 then uses the information in the preceding sections to provide a series of recommendations for the application and further development of those methods deemed most suitable for preventing seal predation in rivers and finfish farms.