Members of the Tsawwassen First Nation are teaming up with commercial and sport-fishers on B.C.’s coast to call on the new federal fisheries minister to allow a West Coast seal and sea lion harvest. The group, called the Pacific Balance Pinnipeds Society, says that growing populations of seals and sea lions endangers future salmon populations.
“If we want to see salmon around for our next generations, we have to go out there and bring that balance to the animal kingdom,” said Thomas Sewid, the director of the newly established society. “To go out, harvest those seals, utilize the whole carcass so the meats are going to markets in Europe and China, the fat is being rendered down for the omega 3s.”
WATCH HERE: Pod of hungry orcas hunt for sea lion between boats
The federal government has banned the cull of seals and sea lions on the West Coast since the 1970s, which still exists on the East Coast. The group is hoping to have a change in policy now that Jonathan Wilkinson, the MP for North Vancouver, is the new fisheries minister.
“I think we are going to see the balance to our oceans and our waters come back in place because of that minister,” said Sewid. “He understands. He has been out sport-fishing. He has seen big fat sea lions tear salmon off his hooks.”
READ MORE: Sea lion pulls young girl into water off Steveston Wharf in Richmond, B.C.
Sea lions are known to be aggressive, not just to animal populations, but towards humans as well. Last May, a sea lion that swam near Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf snagged a little girl by her dress and pulled her into the water. There were multiple Steveston Harbour Authority signs posted at the popular tourist destination warning people not to feed the sea mammals that frequent the area.
But there is some disagreement on how large an effect seals and sea lions actually have on the fish populations.
Scientists at Ocean Wise say their research does not support the idea a harbour seal cull improves the abundance of Chinook salmon in B.C. The scientist describes the fish population as “complex” and that the seal population has recovered from historical culls, and is no longer increasing significantly.
READ MORE: Hunters call for more licences, possible seal cull to combat growing population off N.L.
“Studies show only four per cent of the harbour seal diet is salmon. Herring and hake are their primary prey, with hake making up about 40 per cent of their diet,” said a statement from Ocean Wise. “Hake is actually a big salmon smolt predator, so a seal cull could actually have the opposite of its intended effect: by reducing the number of seals, the abundance of hake would likely increase, resulting in decreased salmon numbers overall.”
We also have a healthy and growing population of transient, or Biggs, killer whales, which eat marine mammals like seals and sea lions. So harbour seals are already being culled very effectively without any human interference at all. Reducing the seal population in the Salish Sea would mean a reduction in food for transient killer whales.
READ MORE: WATCH: Sea lion feeding frenzy on commercial herring catch
Ocean Wise has also found that with an increase in transient killer whales, which eat seals, the population is expected to slowly decline over time.
But Sewid’s group has provided numbers from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans that show a massive population boom that needs to be controlled. According to those numbers, harbour seals in the Georgia Straight have gone up from 12,500 in 1987 to 45,000 today.
As for sea lions, those same numbers from the population grew on B.C.’s coast from 13,000 in 1984 to 36,140 in 1997.
The populations have slowed since the mid-1990s, and has been relatively stable since. One of the challenges Sewid says in convincing people that the animals should be culled is that they look “cute.”
“They don’t understand that seals and sea lions are eating hundreds of salmon fry when the fry are going out to sea, down the rivers and when the salmon are coming home to spawn, those overpopulations over seals and sea lions are eating all that fish,” said Sewid. “We have to bring that balance on.”
[Sure, like it’s their job. Nature has been the expert on checks and balances since long before humans.]
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game.
We are overfishing the oceans, often blaming the results on seals, sea lions, cormorants.
A organization called “Protect the Harvest” is advocating killing sea lions because they eat too many of the fishes the fishermen feel entitled to. This organization is in opposition to animal rights advocates such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
The problem is fishermen overfishing the oceans and consumers demanding an unsustainable harvest. It is not sea lions or cormorants. Dams for sure are a major problem, and climate change may be a factor. Sea lions and cormorants have had millennium of coexistence. Fishermen have changed the balance, drastically! I recommend thinning out the fishermen, some job retraining, maybe u-hauls and relocation. Stop blaming sea lions and cormorants for human gluttony.
Protect the Harvest is an American 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy organization founded by oil executive Forrest Lucas which opposes “the radical animal rights movement” and particularly the Humane Society of the … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_the_Harvest
References:
Overfishing – More than 85 percent of the world’s fisheries have been pushed to or beyond their biological limits and are in need of strict management plans to restore them. http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing
Bycatch – More than 300,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year. http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/bycatch
Global Warming and Its Effect on Marine Populations http://geography.about.com/od/geographyintern/a/globalmarine.htm
The ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’ in the Oceans – A new study indicates that sharks, whales, giant clams and other larger marine creatures are facing a disproportionate threat of extinction because of the “unique human propensity to cull the largest members of a population.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/14/what-the-sixth-extinction-will-look-like-in-the-oceans-the-largest-species-die-off-first/?utm_term=.df260ad96a4c
The size of the global marine vertebrate population decreased by 49 percent between 1970 and 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/crucial-marine-populations-cut-in-half-since-the-1970s-report_us_55f9ecd2e4b00310edf5b1b2
Information about related issues, related news, facts, quotes, what you can do and more: http://www.animalmatters.org
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing
http://komonews.com/news/local/us-house-to-vote-on-bill-allowing-lethal-removal-of-sea-lions
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2018/07/22/new-group-calls-for-seal-and-sea-lion-cull-on-b-c-s-coast/
Thanks for all the important links and info1
Obviously these ocean “stewards” want access to the sea lion/seal meat to sell overseas. I would rarely trust fishermen to actually do what’s right concerning the health of our oceans. It’s all about
taking until there is no more to take. Sea lions aren’t the problem, fishermen are.
Exactly!
so are you going to establish a petition against this venality
On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 2:15 PM, Exposing the Big Game wrote:
> Exposing the Big Game posted: ” https://globalnews.ca/news/ > 4344527/new-group-seal-sea-lion-cull-bc-coast/ By Richard ZussmanOnline > Journalist based at B.C. Legislature Global News Some B.C. First Nations > and fishermen want the government to establish a new seal hunt on the we” >
and will these type of people pay any attention if we did.
Reblogged this on seachranaidhe1.