Proponents of seal hunt hope new stats sway skeptical DFO
Groups looking to revive commercial seal hunting in B.C. are hoping that new science will strengthen their case with a skeptical Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Three new studies being prepared for publication suggest that recovered populations of seals and sea lions in West Coast waters could be having an outsized impact on the survival of the three most troubled Pacific salmon species: chinook, coho and sockeye.
“Most of the drop in survival of chinook and coho in the Georgia Strait since the 1980s is likely due to seals eating juvenile fish during their first summer in the ocean,” said Carl Walters, a professor emeritus at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “The seals don’t target them, but they eat them when they see them, and there are so many seals that a lot of them are eaten.”
Estimates suggest that seals may be consuming about five million juvenile coho each year, or about half of the juveniles that enter the area from streams and rivers. Up to 15 million chinook juveniles meet the same fate, about onethird of that population.
A second study being prepared for Fisheries Magazine found that a dense population of sea lions near the northern tip of Vancouver Island could explain sockeye survival declines.
Two groups are pressing for permission to conduct test hunts of pinnipeds, which include locally abundant harbour seals and Steller sea lions.
A First Nations group — Pacific Balance Marine Management — hopes to establish a commercial market for fur, exotic meat and oils. A second group with roots in the sport fishing industry — Pacific Balance Pinnipeds Society — hopes to harvest seals and sell the meat to commercial prawn and crab fishermen, who require about 2.3 million kilograms of bait a year.
Neither group supports a cull of pinnipeds, instead advocating for licensed hunting and harvesting for commercial purposes.
Pacific Balance Marine Management wants to create an industry run by First Nations, who are already permitted to hunt seals for cultural and ceremonial purposes.
The two groups split last year over philosophical differences, but they are aligned in their belief that pinnipeds are consuming millions of salmon and that the growth of sea lion populations explains the steep decline in some prized B.C. salmon species.
A 2018 report to Fisheries and Oceans Canada by Peter Olesiuk estimated that Steller sea lion populations in B.C. have increased from about 10,000 animals in 1980 to at least 40,000 today. Harbour seal populations have increased from fewer than 4,000 animals in the early 1970s to about 110,000 today.
“We estimate that the average sea lion eats 6.6 tonnes of fish a year, mostly herring and hake, but lots of salmon, too,” said Walters. “So, (the entire sea lion population) eat more than 300,000 tonnes of fish, which is roughly the same amount of fish produced by all of B.C.’s fisheries combined, including aquaculture.”
Walters argues that the timing of the recovery of pinniped populations and their geographical concentrations could also explain the collapse of several herring populations and a 90 per cent decline in sport fishing in the Georgia Strait.
“It’s been a big puzzle over the years because we’ve never until now had an explanation that made sense for why the decline should be so severe,” he said.
Critics argue that pinniped populations have simply returned to a historical balance after decades of being hunted for bounty.
Fisheries and Oceans research supports a more detailed understanding of the role of pinnipeds in the ecosystem, the agency said, adding that harbour seals should not be consumed by humans due to health concerns.
“While seals and sea lions do eat salmon, salmon represent a small proportion on average of their diet,” said a spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “Seals and sea lions also eat other predators of salmon, such as hake, and are an important food source for threatened transient killer whales whose numbers have been increasing in inshore waters along the B.C. coast in recent years.”