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[alwaysfishn]

Just received a copy of a letter sent by BCWF to the minister of Fisheries & Oceans. What are your thoughts?

May 15, 2009

The Honourable Gail Shea
Minister of Fisheries & Oceans Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Minister:

At a recent convention of the B.C. Wildlife Federation (BCWF), delegates representing our
35,000 members unanimously approved a resolution calling for a cull of problem Harbour seals
in Pacific Region rivers and estuaries where their known predation on both seaward-migrating
juvenile and/or returning adult salmonids are putting stocks at risk of extirpation or a Species At
risk Act (SARA) listing. Further, delegates instructed the BCWF to push for an assessment of
seals in other Pacific Region watersheds where salmon stocks are also in decline to determine
if predation by seals is a significant contributor to these declines and to implement similar culls
where it is determined that these stocks are also at risk.

Minister, our Federation is not requesting a massive cull of seals but we do suggest that, at a
time when marine survival of salmon is poor due to ocean conditions, allowing a major predator
species, whose numbers are now at their highest historical level, to forage at will on salmon
stocks of concern is not conducive to sustainability of those stocks. The abundance of seals
has rebounded from a low of 10,000 coast-wide in 1970 to the present level of ~150,000.
According to your marine mammal researchers in Pacific Region there are now 13.1 seals for
each kilometer of coastline within the Strait of Georgia: that is one seal every 77 metres!
Obviously, removal of a few “problem” seals, similar to the “cull” on the Puntledge River at
Courtenay several years ago, will not put this species at risk. In that “cull”, some 70+ seals
were removed resulting in a remarkable increase in the abundance of several salmon stocks in
succeeding years. Not surprisingly however, some seals have “learned” the bad habits of their
predecessors and a second “cull” in this river is needed.

There are several other watersheds in the Strait of Georgia and elsewhere on the Pacific coast
that are habituated by seals and in which salmon populations are in decline despite significant
measures imposed by DFO to limit fishing on these stocks. There is no “smoking gun” to
indicate that predation by seals is a major factor in most of these declines but, to our
knowledge, neither has there been an assessment of these watersheds to determine whether or
not seal predation is a factor. Predator management is an integral part of sound fisheries
management.

It is the understanding of our Tidal Water Fisheries Committee that analysis of scats (collected
by your marine mammal staff in Pacific Region in the mid-1980’s) showed that salmon
represented only 4% of the seal’s annual diet. However, more recent data collected in Puget
Sound by Washington State researchers indicated that the percentage of salmon in the seal diet
was 19%. Given that resident herring, a major contributor to the seal annual diet (30%) in the
1980’s is no longer abundant in Strait of Georgia and that Hake, another major food source of
seals (40% of their annual diet) is also less abundant than when the DFO scat analysis was
done, the Washington State percentage of salmon in the seal diet would appear to be more
realistic in the absence of more recent DFO sampling.

Based on the reported number of seals per kilometer, there are perhaps 50,000 Harbour seals
within the Strait of Georgia. If 19% of their annual diet is salmon and it is assumed that each
seal consumes at least 1 salmon daily during the 69 days of the year that they are feeding on
salmon, seals are devouring 7,881 metric tonnes of salmon annually in the Strait of Georgia
alone: that’s about 3,468,000 salmon! Small wonder then that other DFO Science staff report
that some 90% of seaward-migrating juvenile Chinook from the Cowichan River “disappear”
within a few months of entering the marine environment.

While seal predation of this magnitude would have a serious impact on fisheries, it could also
have a serious impact on other marine species. For example, the resident orca population is
also in decline and of concern. These are fish eaters and their preferred species is Chinook
salmon. What impact seals are having on their food supply is simply not known but it could be
significant.

Minister, because of the uncertainty associated with seal predation on salmon stocks of
concern, we implore you to instruct your Pacific Region staff to conduct the assessments
necessary to:

1. Determine to what extent seals are a contributing factor to the known decline of salmon
stocks in specific rivers and,
2. Authorize the removal of “problem” seals in those watersheds where the assessments
reveal that seals are a significant contributor to the decline of salmon stocks of concern.

Yours in conservation,
Mel Arnold, President
BC Wildlife Federation
Ted Brookman, President
Vancouver Island Region
BC Wildlife Federation
cc: Mr. Paul Sprout, DFO, Regional Director General (Pacific)
BCWF Membership

[troutbreath]

I imagine at one time Seal numbers were kept down by the Killer Whales. But commercial fishermen probably took out the local killer whales that fed on the seals. Speculation at best but I know that years ago guys fishing kept a decent gun on board for shootin seals. Now the Seals have the upper hand and their playing it. Science or lack of on what those Beezelbub Seals are doing pretty well says we draw first ask questions later. When the fish that Seals eat are gone their going to look for new chow, which might be a boater or two.

[salmon river]

Man has really screwed things up from over fishing to the environment and has caused the natural world to go out of whack..

I am puzzled why people call Orca's 'killer whales', when they are not whales at all but the largest member of the dolphin family and looking at them they look more like dolphins...