When Will it Stop?

[Hardy Guy]

If it was hake then there is no shortage of it. They do come and go with water temps but it is a plentiful fish. It might have been Tommy cod also but species do change in abundance especially in the gulf usually because of krill abundance and water water temp.

 

[Fishing?]

The seal population - esp. the Harbour Seals - keep the low Eulachon stocks low, and keep them from rebounding, IMHO...

The moratorium on hunting of seals/sea lions came in around 1970 or so I think. Since then the population has double 4 times.

There have been numerous studies on how much one seal or sea lion eats.

It may sound cruel but a massive cull would have instant results for the whales and salmon stocks every where and for another decade. One big cull and done. Maybe have a smaller one every 5 years or start a industry for skins and the meat. Pet food?

A few folks licensed to take 150 or so a year? I do believe it was a staple of FN diets as well. How could it not be, just walk up to one and throw a spear while they lounge on the beach.

They aren't totally stupid either if targeted from boats they would avoid fishers. Grizzly bears learned when settlers first arrived and brought cattle with them.

3 months and BAM, no more starving Orcas and fish stocks starting to return to pre fish farm numbers once they are outta here mathematically within one salmon cycle. 5 years of chinook as an example.

I think one sea lion or seal eats 4 to 6% of body weight, up to 52lbs a day, Sea lions about the same and Stellar sea lions up to 70lbs a day.

1970 estimates of pinnipeds in Georgia Strait and BC was estimated around 10500 to now more than 200,000+, all BC pinnipeds have had a similar increase estimated around 12.5% per year and will keep increasing at that rate until their food source is depleted, or Orcas fianally realize what they have been missing out on.

I am surprised the FF's aren't lobbying for a bigger hunt just so the damage they do doesn't seem as much or as bad.

Anyway instant results. Not an endangered species either.

 

[Derby]

The moratorium on hunting of seals/sea lions came in around 1970 or so I think. Since then the population has double 4 times.

There have been numerous studies on how much one seal or sea lion eats.

It may sound cruel but a massive cull would have instant results for the whales and salmon stocks every where and for another decade. One big cull and done. Maybe have a smaller one every 5 years or start a industry for skins and the meat. Pet food?

A few folks licensed to take 150 or so a year? I do believe it was a staple of FN diets as well. How could it not be, just walk up to one and throw a spear while they lounge on the beach.

They aren't totally stupid either if targeted from boats they would avoid fishers. Grizzly bears learned when settlers first arrived and brought cattle with them.

3 months and BAM, no more starving Orcas and fish stocks starting to return to pre fish farm numbers once they are outta here mathematically within one salmon cycle. 5 years of chinook as an example.

I think one sea lion or seal eats 4 to 6% of body weight, up to 52lbs a day, Sea lions about the same and Stellar sea lions up to 70lbs a day.

1970 estimates of pinnipeds in Georgia Strait and BC was estimated around 10500 to now more than 200,000+, all BC pinnipeds have had a similar increase estimated around 12.5% per year and will keep increasing at that rate until their food source is depleted, or Orcas fianally realize what they have been missing out on.

I am surprised the FF's aren't lobbying for a bigger hunt just so the damage they do doesn't seem as much or as bad.

Anyway instant results. Not an endangered species either.

I agree with what you are laying down however we're is the balance of the cull and the Biggs whale that do their fine dinning on the seal. Some sort of balance will need to be found .

 

[Fishing?]

I agree with what you are laying down however we're is the balance of the cull and the Biggs whale that do their fine dinning on the seal. Some sort of balance will need to be found .

I don' think the Biggs come through Georgia strait much and a cull can be selective in areas. Especially around estuaries.

If a little over half the current populations maybe as deep as 5/8's that would be enough to suit all and have enough "stock" to start an industry. Of course if it managed by DFO they will be extinct in two years.
No, I think they could be managed through licensing after the initial cull as a small sustainable industry. Sell to China, Japan, Korea.

Get the population down to around 70,000 in BC waters. The Biggs travel up and down the coast more and theri population is exploding, probably due to the over population of pinnipeds.

Pinnipeds eat all fish species so good for Herring, Halibut, Cod, Roch fish, Octopus, anything that swims or crawls in the water.

 

[Hardy Guy]

Maybe if we start harvesting seal/ sea lions .... the ENGO crowd will stop complaining about herring and rec salmon fishing and concentrate on that.

 

[onefish]

The current "too cute to shoot" type mentality will be hard to overcome. The powers that be might be able to sell it to the public if it is framed as a make or break move to save the SRKW's.

 

[IronNoggin]

The current "too cute to shoot" type mentality will be hard to overcome. The powers that be might be able to sell it to the public if it is framed as a make or break move to save the SRKW's.

We (Pacific Balance Pinniped Society) first introduced an IFMP to DFO, backed by the best science available (and co-written by one of their own Senior Biologists) in October of 2018. Since then they have intentionally thrown barrier after barrier at us, based on BS and made up excuses. They simply do not have the intestinal fortitude to do what they know has to be done.

BTW: We were / are NOT promoting a "cull", rather a Harvest.
As much of each animal harvested was to be utilized.
We had, and still have standing markets for much of the product.

As you might assume, a lot of our backing came from various FN's and their Fisheries Committees. Given the resistance encountered with DFO, we advised them to proceed with individual Band applications to proceed. While the feds agreed to allow a harvest (this they could not stop) they refused to allow any sale of the products derived from such. Most of the FN's engaged regardless. The result of those efforts have been very noticeable in some areas, especially so in the Gulf.

We are still keeping the pressure up. But until we see a change at the top, there is little likelihood of our proposal moving forward.

Nog

 

[searun]

Totally agree Nog - a careful science-based harvest is a good start. So too would be removing any human made haul outs near river estuaries - those would be log booms, some break walls and docks used by seals and sea lions to haul out. Predation is highest in the areas nearby haul outs.

 

[Old Blue]

Need any Asian market to buy the meat at a premium then it'll be all good to go for FN and probably a subsidiary of Jimmy's to go after them.

 

[ship happens]

I was asking questions about hake population last year and this was quote on quote.

Them: "Hake eat everything, including prawn larvae, crab larvae, and any fry coming out of any river, French Creek seafoods pumped over 20 million lbs of hake this winter from out front, and didn't scratch the surface. Not good."

Me : "How many million lbs you think are in the SOG?"

Them: "Probably over 100million"

 

[Haverodwilltravel]

I was asking questions about hake population last year and this was quote on quote.

Them: "Hake eat everything, including prawn larvae, crab larvae, and any fry coming out of any river, French Creek seafoods pumped over 20 million lbs of hake this winter from out front, and didn't scratch the surface. Not good."

Me : "How many million lbs you think are in the SOG?"

Them: "Probably over 100million"

I thought those hake were caught on the West Coast. No?

 

[ship happens]

I thought those hake were caught on the West Coast. No?

That's not what I gathered. However it was a real quick conversation. The topic wasn't on hake in general. The topic was about the prawn population above nanaimo.

 

[onefish]

There used to be a sizeable fleet of mid water trawlers that fished for hake around the finger bank on the WCVI. Not a big hake fan but one thing I noticed was the considerable drop in size of the hake we used to encounter once the trawlers showed up and did their thing. I imagine they are still out on the water pounding away.

You really had to watch the evening bite. If you kept the gear in the water a bit too long, you ended up with a hake on every hook, and it was a lot of work re tying everything that was messed up, to get ready for the morning bite. Fishing till dark was usually a poor strategy.

 

[Hardy Guy]

They can catch hake in the SOG and on the WCVI. The larger biomass is usually on the WC but at times they can be plentiful on the inside and sometimes in the inlets. The same thing with pollock stocks. Fish have tails and go where the food is ..... boats have motors so the fishermen follow.