Too Many Seals, Not Enough Sharks

Are you sure you aren’t from Canada?  Sounds like you fishermen are jumping on the same bandwagon as the greedy fishermen up here.  If you do decide to control seal populations, at least do it humanely, unlike this disgusting country I live in.  You can control the populaion by giving themn contraceptives.  The DFO did a study on it and didn’t follow through with it becuase the greedy fishermen up here wanted a commercial slaughter where they could get money for their coats.  The market for the pelts is dwindling, thank God, as people are finding out for themselves about the intolerable cruelty these mammals are dealt, so in a few years the pelts will be totally worhtless and hopefully a more humane method of controlling the population will be adopted.  Mother nature has a way of taking care of things herself though - if man would just stop interfering.  Do bugger around with the ecosystem will only spell trouble.  I suggest you stop overfishing and leave mother nature to do her own work.

Made my opinions known in the last (Feb) issue of the On the Water” Magazine in “letters to Pops” column. Fall surf fishing trips to the Cape over 25 years keep getting worse and seals now grabbing our hooked big bluefish and stripers. It is awful. Way too many of them. Fishermen coming to Cape keeps getting less- hotels, restaurants and businesses noticing the negative economic impact. The herd need to be thinned!

June 28, 2008

Boat passengers witness shark attack
Fourteen passengers on a Chatham seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island.

Capt. Bob Littlefield is sure the shark he saw rip a seal in half yesterday afternoon was a great white.

“It was a quite a bloody mess,” said Littlefield, who has been a captain on Cape Cod for 32 years.

Littlefield was steering a 42-foot, high-speed catamaran owned by Monomoy Island Excursions of Harwich Port on the ocean side of Monomoy, where hundreds of seals were sunning and swimming, when suddenly there was a commotion in the water.

Littlefield, who said he had always wanted to see a shark eat a seal, turned the boat toward the area, which quickly became red with blood. As the boat got closer, the shark went under, taking half of the gray seal with it. The tour captain estimated the seal to be 300 to 400 pounds, and the shark to be between 14 and 16 feet.

full story

I HAVE (SURF)FISHED NAUSET BEACH FOR 24 YRS +. WHEN i SAW A GRAY SEAL 20 YRS AGO WE WOULD TAKE A PICTURE. NOW ID RATHER PULL A TRIGGER THAN PRESS A BUTTON. THIS IS A “HUGE” PROBLEM.  2002 WAS THE LAST YEAR I BOUGHT A BEACH STICKER FOR NAUSET.  WHY? BECAUSE MY LAST THREE DAYTIME KEEPERS WERE ALL MAULED/KILLED BY A GLUTTUONESS HORSEHEAD.  NOW THEYRE IN EVERY HOLE FROM MONOMOY TO RACE PT. SOMETHING ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE DONE.  THE GREAT WHITES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AROUND,THEY JUST HAVE 7,000 MORE REASONS TO COME CLOSER TO SHORE.  ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE ONE OF THE SURFER DUDES GETS WHACKED.

Your brother-in-law may be interested to know that by feeding the seals off his boat, he is in direct violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which carries a penalty of $10,000 for each violation.

Having just returned from Striped Bass fishing off of South Beach in Chatham I can attest to the growing and annoying seal population. These seals actually follow you around in the hopes of liberating your struggling Striper on the line! I have seen it happen first hand. The seals have learned to stay close to the fisherman and when the fisherman catches a fish, steal it from him! I realize folks like to look at the pretty seals but one ought to realize how many fish they are eating every day thus ruining a world class fishery that the Outer Cape is.

I was just discussing this issue with a Portuguese friend today, a knowledgeable fisherman.  While it seems pretty obvious that the seals are really making inroads on the fish supply, especially for surfcasters etc. I do not feel that inhumane methods should be used to reduce the population. Said friend told of traps with fishhooks that grip the seals and seals in Boston Harbor with their throats slashed.  Surely they can be shot and such killing monitored by managing bodies and it be required that the meat be used as well as the skins.
Humans are very arrogant re: their position in the food chain.  We are capable of managing wildlife humanely.

I agree Marcia. As an avid hunter im all for rules/regulations and nothing should be wasted. Because we (humans)have messed up Mother Nature so bad its essential we fix/monitor our mistakes. Im still waiting for a Shark attack on the backside. Only then will the problem be addressed, unfortunately.

Kayakers get too close to shark
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Cape Codders Bruce Bean and Rod MacKinnon were kayaking from Chatham to Monomoy Island early Saturday morning when they heard a large splash near Chatham Lighthouse, Bean said yesterday.

They soon spotted a large gray seal streaming blood and a large black fin in the water nearby. At one point the mortally wounded seal surfaced for air about 5 feet from the kayaks, Bean said.

The two men followed a prearranged plan in case of a shark sighting, rafting their kayaks together to appear larger, Bean said. After the seal and shark disappeared, the men quickly paddled away from the bloodied water.

Saturday’s report is the first sighting of such an attack this season.

I’m tellin ya.  One of these days it wont be a (mortally wounded) large Gray Seal surfacing for air, but rather
a (mortally wounded) large black- neoprene clad surfer surfacing for air. Then what will the authorities do????

First they’ll say “I think we have a Seal Problem.”  H.E.L.L.O…....its been 10 yrs now!

Check out my posts from last summer…that actually started 10 YEARS AGO!!

Speaking as a surfer of 15 years, and a former New England native transplanted to California for the past 12 years…a shark attack on a human does NOT equal a seal problem.

Marine mammals are protected in CA also. We have many more pinnipeds, GW sharks, and surfers. Occasionally, a surfer or swimmer gets attacked and even killed. As tragic as it may be, people tend not to overreact and declare war on the wildlife. After all, if you have the balls to recreate in the ocean, you also bear the burden of responsibility for your own safety. We surfers accept the inherent risk of entering waters populated by sharks and their prey. Despite the danger, many of us advocate for the protection and conservation of all marine wildlife, including sharks.

To tell you the truth, I feel safer surfing colder, sharky, GW prowled waters than I did surfing the truly shark infested waters of New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
As for the fisherman out there complaining about seals stealing all of their fish. One could make the exact same argument against humans. There are definitely more than enough of them around, as well. And I know which species I’d prefer to impose population control upon.

Hi Surfer Girl, I like your post.

I’m EXTREMELY “conservation -minded”

Ive hunted/fished all my life And have a whole lot more respect for Mother Nature than mankind. I understand the checks and balances that occur and how they work. “I” didn’t recreate the ocean (although i do have the “kozznotchies”) the scientists/researchers did, proves how much they know.

But…If “we” as a society want to change the balance of populations (1st all out slaughter) than (Endangered Species Act) we have to deal with the repercussions ( see my interview in CC Times ). We saved the Gray Wolf out west. Guess what, as of yesterday they can now hunt them.??? Because their pop grew to sustainable levels and perhaps beyond?

Look at the Alligator problem down south, protected for years. Now their eating up dogs,cats…children, even from the littlest of water holes. Now theres a hunting season open on them. Beaver population growing in Western Mass (Ban on trapping passed) more dumb ass legislation. Peoples homes are getting flooded, insurance doesnt cover Beaver dams! Now we have a Gray Seal population that Monomoy/Chatham cant sustain. Ive said for a long,long time wait till the big girls show up!!!!! Sharks arent a problem, but 7000 SEALS ARE!!! especially in a small confined area like Monomoy. “We” brought the sharks here by letting Seal numbers grow UNCHECKED.If someone does get an exploratory bite (often thats enough for fatality) My opinion is The shark that did the damage was DRAWN CLOSER TO SHORE by the 7000 seals.

How come multiple sharks sightings didnt happen when there was say a 1000 seals? The majority of GW I think are usually offshore stalking whales, Tuna, Dolphin etc. 4,200,000 lbs of protein rich blubber hanging out in a few square miles is a bigger/louder dinner bell.Being warm blooded they could stay past Thanksgiving!

Well said David. In my simplistic way of thinking I liken all of those seals on South Beach & Monomoy Island, Cape Cod, as a huge banquet table that has been set for years with no guest showing up for the feast that awaits them. Then, a stragler comes upon the secene and tells all of his friends about what they’ve been missing.
The time has come where his friends are showing up!

I’ll melt the butter.

When we were unloading at the Chatham Fish Pier last week, the seals around the pier appeared to be starving.

You see, usually a seal will turn its nose when dogfish are discarded at the pier. Last week however, six seals were actually fighting over two rotten week-old dogfish we found under one of the brine tanks on the deck.

Now either the seals are too scared to venture out because of the sharks or they have eaten every striper, flounder and other fish in Chatham Harbor.

I would be willing to bet it’s the latter.

The Great Whites wont kill em all.
“We” cannot kill them (politically incorrect).
THE GRAY SEALS WILL LEAVE CHATHAM FOR GOOD ONLY WHEN THEIR FOOD SOURCE IS DEPLETED.
And hopefully go back to Canada where they came from!
I’ll bet this is the most southern latitude Gray Seals have set up shop.
And we have the warmest summer ocean temps in decades this year….? Maybe they’ll slowly evolve into Manatees. Darwin’s answer to global warming?

to david mccoubrey,

Thanks for the response. I appreciate that as a hunter and fisherman you are conservation minded; many of you are.
First of all, the current situation with wolves out west is an example of wildlife mis-management, and a very different set of circumstances from the seal, and other wildlife populations. It is a direct consequence of a misguided wildlife management decision. They were not trying to recover an existing population, they reintroduced the species to Yellowstone. I opposed this from the beginning because I knew what their fate would be.

One of the reasons that predator/prey populations have become so imbalanced is because of human interference. One of the reasons that wildlife populations are now in constant conflict with humanity is because of an unchecked and ever expanding human population. A population which continues to encroach on habitats, both on land and at sea.

California is a place densely populated with both humans and wild animals and, inevitably, conflicts do arise. However, it is interesting to see just how adapted people and animals have become to living in such close proximity to one another.

In other words folks, you may just have to get used to it. I highly doubt seal clubbing is going to make a comeback anytime soon.