Scientists warn of damage to ecosystem after B.C. group proposes seal hunt GlobeBC
Sewid, who lives in Campbell River and belongs to the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation, said Indigenous rights to harvest pinnipeds for food, social and ceremonial reasons are not enough to control their numbers.“Humans were put on earth according to our culture to help keep balance in the animal kingdom,” he said in an interview.
But Dr. Peter Ross of the Vancouver Aquarium says there’s no data to suggest a cull would help salmon species.Individual animals may form bad habits, he said, giving the example of black bears that eat garbage. So it’s true that some seals and sea lions snag adult salmon from fishermen’s lines. Andrew Trites, who oversees the marine mammal research unit at the University of British Columbia, said perceptions about rising seal and sea lion populations are skewed.
He said the seal and sea lion populations were historically decimated, not balanced, by overharvesting after Europeans arrived in North America.It’s only in the past 40 years that they have sprung back to healthy levels along British Columbia’s coast following their protection by the Fisheries Act in the 1970s, he said.
“The conflict on the water between humans and seals is not new – they want some of the same fish. I do worry people now feel more comfortable taking aim because they’ve been hearing seals are the bad guys, and they’re not,” he said.
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