Here is some DFO History on seal culling in B.C.
"Harbour seal populations in B. C have been increasing in all areas surveyed by DFO. The increases, believed to be occurring province-wide, represent the recovery of populations that had been depleted by bounties and hunting.
the morning, and toward the end of the pupping season. Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) surveys conducted under these conditions indicate that the harbour seal population in Georgia Strait has grown from about 2,100 in 1973 to 12,500 in 1987, a rate of increase of 12.4% per year. Similar increases have occured in all other areas censused. For example, in the lower Skeena River counts have increased from about 400 in 1977 to 1,250 in 1987. It is estimated that the total population in B.C. currently numbers about 65,000 and may be approaching historical levels.
This recent increase in numbers in B.C. represents the recovery of a depleted population, which in the late 1960s had probably been reduced to less than 15,000. A bounty offered by DFO for each seal killed between 1913 and 1964 reduced populations to about half historic levels. Harbour seals were also intensively hunted for their pelts between 1962 and 1969. The population could not withstand this additional hunting and declined sharply during the mid 1960s.
Researchers at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo recently began examining the impact of the growing harbour seal population on fisheries. Data are presently being collected on diet, seasonal movements and abundance in conflict areas to establish the extent to which seals interfere with fishing activities and their impact on important fish stocks, such as salmon and herring.
One of the main topics now being studied is the amount of salmon consumed by harbour seals. The amount of food eaten by a seal depends on its size and sex, the season and the caloric content of the prey. On average, harbour seals consume about 1.8-3.2 kg (4-7 lbs) of fish daily. At present not enough is known about the diet of harbour seals to accurately estimate the amount of salmon eaten. Preliminary findings indicate that in most localities, harbour seals prey mainly on a wide variety of small fishes that occur in shallow water around reefs. These include sculpins, small flatfishes and rockfishes, greenlings, smelts and perches. During winter their diet consists mainly of hake and, to a lesser degree, herring. However, salmon may constitute an important part of the diet in some rivers and estuaries while salmon are spawning.
Harbour seals also create problems for fishermen by removing salmon from gear. Gillnetters and sport fishermen experience the greatest losses.
Harbour seals create problems for commercial fishermen by removing and damaging salmon in gillnets. Harbour seals also take salmon from the lines of recreational fishermen."
Sure seals suck , but do we want to even make a effort to get the balance back in nature or are we going to continue on the haphazard road we have travelled for the last 100 years ?