Plankton + Fish + Seals

= Healthy Ocean

 

The Chronicle Herald
February 17th, 2006

Quota set at 2,100 for grey seal hunt

The annual grey seal harvest is underway in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Phil
Jenkins of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said Thursday that the hunt
began Wednesday. It will last one week or until a quota of 2,100 adolescent
seals has been taken. Leroy McEachern of the department said a storm surge that
left many baby seals dead in the Pictou Island area had minimal impact on local
seal populations...

The Canadian Press.

Comments by the Grey Seal Conservation Society (GSCS)...

In Nova Scotia, this year's harvest of 2,100 grey seal pups was based on a term called "Potential Biological Removal." This is used when considerable doubt or "poor data" is associated when chronicling the activities of marine life.

The non-Sable Island component of grey seals falls into this category - little or no information on moralities, population or movement of animals is known. According to DFO science this is today's reflected wisdom "…uncertainty in pup production underlines the need for caution in any management activities applied to this group" (the grey seals).

The recent sustainable harvest defies all logic. If the West coast of Cape Breton and the Northumberland Strait experienced diminutive ice conditions, then many of the provinces narrow beach seal rookeries, namely: Amet Island, Deadman Island, Henry and Hay Island and the Nova Scotia eastern shore, must have also suffered similar pupping moralities to those experienced by the grey seal population on Pictou Island.

DFO's sanctioned harvest of 2,100 grey seals is based on a preset number. This is a careless and irrational decision, if one considers the recent variation within the marine ecosystem. Erring on the side of caution, stewardship, and the precautionary approach are simply platitudes...