Your Vancouver Sun

History shows the folly of a seal cull
Anthony Marr, Special to the Sun
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007

Re: Harbour seal cull needed: Fishermen, March 26

The sport fishermen pushing for this cull should do some homework on the recent history of British Columbia' fisheries before repeating another disastrous page of it.

I refer to the 1939 to 1969 harbour seal cull, which was supposed to protect salmon stock. By the late 1960s, the seals had indeed been decimated but, not as predicted, so had the salmon runs in most B.C. rivers.
The seal hunt was finally banned in 1970. By the 1990s, the seals had rebounded, and, yes, so had most of the salmon runs. Those few that did not rebound were mostly overfished.

Here are a few examples, out of dozens, extracted from the B.C. government's database:

Meziadin River -- In the 1960s, the average escapement was 87,000 sockeye; in the 1990s it was 248,000.

Fulton Creek -- 1960s, 142,000 sockeye; 1990s, 438,000.

Kitimat River -- 1960s, 26,000 chum; 1990s, 130,000.

Morice River -- 1960s, 5,850 chinook; 1990s, 18,000.

Babine River -- 1960s, 41,000 even-year pink; 1990s, 215,000.

The reason for this is that only three per cent of the seal's diet comprises salmonids.

The other 97 per cent comprises about 20 other species of fish and cephalopods that prey on salmon, including rock fish, sand lance, herring, sculpin, smelt, tomcod, lamprey, flounder, shad, hake, perch, gunnel, prickle-back, anchovy, chub, mackerel and squid.

When the seals are decimated, these species proliferate, massively consuming the salmonids.

The fisherman should familiarize themselves with some rudiments of marine ecology, particularly to realize that there is more than just salmon, seal and line-hook-sinker in the water. The equation is not the simplistic "fewer seals = more salmon."

Finally, realize that the seals eat fish to live, and sport fishermen kill fish for entertainment.

Please show a little generosity and compassion, to both fish and seal.

Anthony Marr is founder of Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE), based in Vancouver.