A PEER and former agriculture minister under the Tories, has launched a savage attack on the "vicious, nasty" seals in the North Sea, which he says threaten the livelihood of local salmon fishermen.

Lord (Michael) Jopling, who lives near Thirsk, stopped short of demanding an immediate cull of the seal population off the North-East coast, but he told the House of Lords: "These creatures are not marine pussycats - they are vicious, nasty animals in large numbers."

Lord Jopling, who was agriculture minister from 1983 to 1987, said that the enormous explosion in the seal population was totally unjustified, and blamed the animals for ruining the drift-net fishing industry on the North-East coast.

He recalled a visit to a Northumberland fishing village in the 1970s, when fishermen complained how seals "hung around their nets and took a nibble out of the salmon they had caught".

The comments came as the Lords discussed the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill, which contains proposals to restore damaged marine areas.

Lord Jopling demanded to know what that meant for the seal population.

Some people regarded seals as "adorable animals which are nice to look at", but fishermen thought they were a total menace, said Lord Jopling.

He said that protection of seals had allowed their numbers to grow enormously.