A new study by statisticians at Strathclyde University has said that seals are disrupting efforts to revive the numbers of cods in the waters even as fishermen face strict fishing limits.

Many cut back on fish and chips in order to help revive the depleted cod stocks and avoid its elimination from the area. However, experts pointed out that the seals are eating the cod instead. New study of the estimated numbers showed that changes in stocks off the west coast of Scotland have showed that strict limits on fishing have reduced the among of cod being caught but the potential gain has been eaten by seals.

The research study by statisticians at Strathclyde University warned that numbers are now "unlikely to recover" even as fishing restrictions remain due to abooming seal population as a law protects them in the waters. They also pointed out that the modelling techniques to measure the number might be too optimistic as it does not consider factors like the growing seal population.

"The best-fitting model suggests that mortality due to fishing reduced substantially in the decade up to 2005, but has been replaced by increased seal predation mortality on a smaller cod stock.Given total mortality estimates, the stock is unlikely to recover even at present reduced levels of fishing," the study concludes.

Dr Robin Cook, of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Strathclyde, who led the study said that cod stocks off the west coast of Scotland has fallen by about 5 per cent compared to 1981.