How many salmon do they eat in a life time???

  • Thread starter Thread starter bacon
  • Start date Start date
Sea lions quite a few as they are able to get them anytime in open ocean or in confined places..seals not as many. Seals need a little help as they are less successful in the open ocean..they do better around river mouths/harbours where the water is shallow/confined and the salmon is less able to get clear. They are good at taking salmon in the open ocean by following boats and stealing their meals.
 
Ya the seals are really OVER POPULATED...are they up to 6 billion, predicted to be 10 billion in a few years and totally out of control? Give any wildlife a chance to respond and they would have a vastly different perspective. A more accurate one too!!!
 
Nowdays, bigger boats venture offshore like 5 miles or more...bigger seals teach pup seals to follow the boats as far as many miles until boats have salmon on.
 
I researched this once and found that seals eat 8% of their body weight per day in salmon, bottom fish and anything else they can fit in their mouths. They are very opportunistic. I would have to do some furthe research to find average wieght and lifespan.
 
quote:Originally posted by drhook

I researched this once and found that seals eat 8% of their body weight per day in salmon, bottom fish and anything else they can fit in their mouths. They are very opportunistic. I would have to do some furthe research to find average wieght and lifespan.

25-30 yrs age, 350lbs average
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info.../craniata/mammalia/pinnipedia/harbor-seal.htm

350lbs x .08 body weight x 365 days a year x 25 years = 255 500lbs of food per seal [xx(]
 
Realistically wouldnt it be smart for DFO or who ever the appropriate agency to sanction a kull.....and save the Salmon.
 
LOL...your joking right...humans take way more salmon out of the ocean...in fact humans take more SEALIFE out of the oceans and seals would turn that one right back on us and suggest a kull on us....think about it!! Whats happpening to the worlds shark population? whales? salmon, blue tuna, herring, now krill. I hate loosing a fish to seals too, but get real...they aren't the problem. Just because they compete for the same fish doesn't mean you pick them off like we did to the Buffalo! If WE hadn't have captured so many Killer Whales in the past the seal population would be more in balance. Look at it from any angle..we are to blame in some capacity..that is the facts!
 
Profisher


You hit the nail on the head.... I could'nt agree with you more!! Take a look around its HUMANS F#$@ing everything up>>>
 
I'm not against dealing with specific problems...like limited culling in a river estuary to protect vulnerable fish returning to an endangered system. I noticed that the seals that have taken fish from anglers in the Sooke area were not around this summer. I never had a customer loose a fish to a seal all season. Just one passing Sea lion got one of our coho. I think the BAD seals that follow us around all day waiting for a free meal are more likely to get picked off by passing transient killer whales. Which seals are more likely to get whacked by a whale, those lounging most of the day on the rocks...or those out away from the shore looking for a boat to follow?
 
based on drhook numbers, sure, if you look at it over a lifetime, its nasty, but if you look at it daily, we are talking 28lbs of fish each. That is basically 1 large, or 2 average springs a day - not exactly gluttony for something that big.

The problem seals are the ones that need to be removed (no different than a bear that finds a garbage can closing as a dinner bell) - the marina seals that sit there waiting for scraps at the cleaner table, sammy the lazy butt fisherman wharf seal, the Puntledge River lazy pick em off as they go upstream seals. These are the ones to deal with...1/2 the time though, its our own damn fault - after all, how many on the board directly feed them every time they clean the fish? Likely 90% here. I do what I can at least to 'avoid' the easy meal - I will throw my carcass on the rocks just at tide level - give em to the gulls and crabs - at least make the lardasses work to reach it! Don't complain when you are directly to blame for their laziness and mooching ways.
 
quote:the Puntledge River lazy pick em off as they go upstream seals

Actually the "as they go DOWN the river" is more destructive as the famous Puntledge seals gobble up thousands of hatchery released juveniles as the migrate downriver at night but get picked off by the seals under the streetlights on the bridge.
 
quote:Originally posted by chris73

quote:the Puntledge River lazy pick em off as they go upstream seals

Actually the "as they go DOWN the river" is more destructive as the famous Puntledge seals gobble up thousands of hatchery released juveniles as the migrate downriver at night but get picked off by the seals under the streetlights on the bridge.

oops, correct - tis what I was referring too :D
 
Lots of lazy butt mouching humans to get rid of too.
 
Here we go again!! Winter is truly here and the seal bashing begins. I have this idea that if we left everything in nature alone and stopped trying to "manage" it we might actually have a balance in 50 years.
 
you bastards highjacked my post AGAIN:D JK Hmmmmmm I know we could go on on forever on how we ruined the ocean as a human race etc... But do the math 350lbs x .08 body weight x 365 days a year x 30 years= [xx(]306,600lbs of fish[xx(]
A seal would eat on average in its life span 30,660 salmon at a ten pound average for the salmon.

http://www.salmonfest.ca
check out my pictures
 
Back
Top