Animal specialists learn effects of seal deterrent not working
By Colleen Dane - Comox Valley Record - May 28, 2008 | | | |

Vancouver veterinarians and animal specialists learned something about the effects of an electrical seal deterrent in the Courtenay River last week when they came to monitor the situation.

What they discovered wasn’t what they expected.

They learned that at high river levels, the array cast by the deterrent installed last month, simply doesn’t work at stopping seals from heading upstream to feast on migrating salmon.

“The seals don’t seem to be to concerned about the array at that level,” said Gary Taccogna, salmon enhancement program manager for the South Coast.

It was a lesson learned in their ongoing testing of the new equipment, which has been implemented under the Fifth Street bridge.

It’s a part of DFO’s efforts to use non-lethal means of deterring seals from using the lights around the bridge and Lewis Park to dine on young salmon heading to and from the hatchery on the Puntledge.

The first configuration for the electrical deterrent didn’t work at all. The second seemed to work at its higher levels,  but the reaction by seals who tried to push through the electrical pulses concerned DFO officials who don’t want to see the animals injured.

Before they continued at that level, a veterinarian and seal specialist from the Vancouver Aquarium were brought here last week to check on the seals and their response to the higher array.

The night they arrived, Taccogna said the high tide met the increased flows out of the river,  raising the mouth from between four and six feet deep up to 10 to 12 feet deep.

The array that seemed to be having some impact in regular levels had no effect at the increased depth.

“They seem to work well in some conditions and not in others,” he said.

While they learned from the experience, it wasn’t what they were expected, said Taccogna. With the new information, DFO and the electrical deterrent manufacturers will have to discuss the future of the project.

He said they’ll discuss this week “whether to carry on or whether to postpone it for now and go back to the drawing board.”

The Puntledge River Restoration Committee is actively advocating that a cull be allowed in the meantime for the wayward seals, arguing that they are seriously damaging stocks while DFO waits to find an alternative means.

reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/comoxvalleyrecord/news/19292269.html