'Get the balance back': Amid seal and sea lion boom, group calls for hunt on B.C. coast

For the first time in decades,a small-scale seal hunt is taking place on Canada's West Coast all in the hopesthat it leads to the establishment of acommercial industry tohelp control booming seal and sea lion populations and protect the region's fish stocks.

In early November, a group called the Pacific Balance PinnipedsSociety (PBPS) startedusing First Nations hunting rightsas part of aplan to harvest 30 seals.The society plans to test the meat and blubber to see if it's fit for human consumption and other uses.

"We can look at opening up harvesting and starting a new industry," said TomSewid, the society's director and a commercial fisherman."Since the [West Coast] seal cull ended in the 1970s, the population has exploded."

Sewid, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakwgroup of Indigenous peoples, points out that the animals have been hunted for thousands of years. Recent decadeswith little or no huntinghave been an anomaly, hesaid, pointing to research that shows sealnumbersare even higher now than in the 1800s.

Out go the nets, in come the sea lions

What's become anongoing battle between humans and sea lions played out on a recent nighttime fishing expedition, whenSewid and a crew of commercial fishermen setout in a 24-metre seine boat to fishfor herringoff the coast of Parksville, B.C.

The crew'sgoal was tocatch about 100 tonnes of herring, which rise to the surface to feed after dark. But thefaintbarking ofsea lions was soon heard over the thrum of the boat's diesel engine.

"All them sea lions out there are all happy[they're] all yelling, 'Yahoo,it's dinner time!'" Sewid said.

Once the crew spotted the herring, they let out hundreds of metres of net, while a smaller boat helpedto circle it around the huge mass of fish.The crew then closed the bottom of the net, capturing the herring.

Watch sea lions pillage fishermen's nets:

Sea Lions feeding in fishing nets

6 years ago

Duration 0:27

Many Sea Lions are caught in fishing nets, as they try to feed.

But the catch also provided some uninvited visitors with a captive dinner: Dozens of sea lionsjumped over the floats holding up the net and started to gorge.

"These guys, it's just a buffet for them," said Sewid, as the bodies of the sea lions glistened in the boat's floodlights."Just like pigs at a trough."

Sewidsaid the sea lions have learned there's an easy meal to be had whenever they see or hear the fishing boats.

"They're not afraid of us. They've habituated themselves to seeing that humans and fishing equates easy access to food, which is not right," he said."The animal kingdom is not supposed to be like that."

Restarting a banned hunt

The hunting of seals and sea lions which are collectively known as pinnipeds has been banned on the West Coast for more than 40 years. It's one reason their numbers have exploded alongthe entire Pacific coastline of North America.

According to one study, theharbour seal populationin the Salish Sea is estimated at80,000 today, up from 8,600 in 1975. The study alsosays seals and sea lions now eat six times as many chinooksalmon as are caught in the region's commercial and sports fisheriescombined.

That adds up to millions of tonnes of commercially valuable fish.

Sewid's group is proposing to cullcurrent populations of harbourseals and sea lions by half, which would see thousands of the animalskilled each year.

The society's small-scale "test" harvest is taking place between B.C.'s southern Gulf Islands and as far north as Campbell River, on Vancouver Island. It's being carried outunder the provisions of the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, which gives some First Nations harvesting and management rights for food and ceremonial purposes.

Testing the meat to see if it's safe for human consumption is a first step in a plan to eventually gain permission for what the PBPSenvisions as asustainable, humane commercial hunt, which would largely be carried out by coastal First Nations.

"All the meat that's in there, you're looking at the high-end restaurants [that would sellit]," Sewid said."The hides can also be used."

Sealblubber is particularly valuable, he said,because it can be rendered down into an oil that's in demand because of its high Omega-3 fatty acid content.

Watch fishing crew struggle to free sea lions entangled in their nets:

Sea Lions freed from fishing nets

6 years ago

Duration 0:49

Watch as fishing crew struggles to free sea lions trapped in their nets.

One of the biggest hurdles facing the group isconvincingthe federal Department of Fisheries and Oceansto open a commercial hunt on the West Coast.

The seal hunt that takes place in the Atlantic and Arctic is controversial, and has long been subject toprotests and fierce opposition from animal rights groups. The group expects a West Coast harvest to also face fierce confrontations.

Canadian Inuit have been waging a counter-campaign, highlighting the importance of the animal and the longstanding tradition of their hunt.

Most Canadian seal products are also banned in Europe and a handful of othercountries, but the society says demandis strong in Asia.

Supporters and opponents

ThePBPSdoes have a growing list of supporters, including 110 First Nations groups, a number of commercial fishing organizations, and some sectors of B.C.'s economically important sportfishing sector.

However, one key player, the Sport Fishing Institute of B.C., opposes a large commercial hunt, fearing it would generate public outrage and might not achieve the goal of enhancing fish stocks.

The institute's director, Martin Paish, says the group sees some value in targeting some seals and other fish predators at specific times of year in a number of key river systems;he believes a limited huntwould help protect salmon stocks and boost the billion-dollar-a-year B.C. sport fishing industry.

"Our goal is to use predator control in a careful manner to improve chinook [salmon] production where it is needed," said Paish.

Fisheries scientist Carl Walters, a professor emeritus with UBC, believes culling the regions sea lions and seals could dramatically boost salmon stocks. He points to numerous studies showing howpinniped populationshave been increasing, whilesalmon numbers have been plummeting.

"They're killing a really high percentage of the small salmon shortly after they go into the ocean, about half of the cohosmoltsand a third of the chinooks," he said.

Advocates of a hunt are also pitching it as a way to help B.C.'s endangered southern resident killer whales, which feedmainly on salmon.

"The thing that would benefit southern resident killer whales is to see improved survival of small chinooksalmon and I think the only way we can achieve that is by reducing seal numbers," Walters said.

Others disagree, including Peter Ross, the vice-president of research and executive director of the Coastal Ocean Research Institute.

"Killing of seals and sea lions is not going to have any positive impact for any salmon populations in coastal British Columbia," he said.

While a few localized populations of salmon might benefit from a cull, Ross saidclimate change, habitat destruction andoverfishingare all bigger factors in the overall decline of stocks.

Other subspecies of orcas, however, feed mainly on seals, so a hunt would reduce their access to prey.

Back on the boat, Sewidconcedes a hunt would be controversialbut he firmly believes it's necessary.

"All the indicators are there," he said."It's time to get the balance back."