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Kayakers discover 12 shot grey seals

By JENNIFER STEWART

A tour group kayaking in Prospect Bay near Bettys Island came across a startling sight Monday morning.

About 12 grey seals were found floating on the water, apparently shot to death...

"We suspect that it was fishermen that shot the seals to keep them out of their catch," Jerry Conway, the department's marine mammal adviser, said Wednesday.

"There are approximately 300 fishermen licensed in the area and they are permitted to kill grey seals only," he explained. "They have to try to recover the seals and dispose of them."

In this case, Mr. Conway said, the fishermen failed to do that.

At this point in the investigation, he could not say whether charges would be laid. Anyone who doesn't comply with the stipulations can face fines or up to one year in jail.

The regulations allowing fishermen to kill seals on their own came about partially because of the recent explosion in the local seal population.

Mr. Conway said in January and February of 1963, there were approximately 230 grey seal pups born on Sable Island, the main rookery for Atlantic Canada. But for the same time period in 2004, the number of seal pups born rose to more than 50,000.

"The population grows approximately 12 per cent a year, so in about eight years, the population will double," Mr. Conway said.

"It grows because there are no natural predators (for seals) except for sharks, and the sharks' numbers are presently declining."

Mr. Conway said the department isn't certain it was local fishermen who shot the seals, but he had no other logical suspects.