Here we go again, by Bob Hooton .

[onefish]

DFO creel survey to FN gillnetter. Did you catch any steelhead today? Nope, haven't got any all year. My cousins haven't caught any either, I did see a couple of seals with one the other day though.
DFO creel survey to his boss. FN aren't catching any steelhead in their nets but the seals sure are a problem.
Bison to the world, gillnets are no longer a problem but those pesky seals have to go!

That is about how much credibility there is to the numbers of steelhead reportedly caught in gillnets up and down the Fraser canyon. A black hole with no real desire or ability to properly quantify the carnage. The picture of an ostrich with its head in the sand comes to mind.

Now, back to the seal killing plan.

 

[wildmanyeah]

ignoring the larger problem of predation

I don’t think the sports fishing community is ignoring the issue I just think there are very few who wish to support a cull publicly and light their reputations on fire.

imo one of the big influencers for removing fish farms besides First Nations of course was the pacific salmon foundation who no longer sat on the sidelines and starting putting out science supporting their removal.

if the pacific salmon foundation got behind a seal cull then I beleive that would open the flood gates of support.

 

[Teal]

An interesting read, it looks like the Province is going to push for more closures to save fish. https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/ne...HRUkGXDykdXHQBMWdoe7tW5X9P_vJccxsteEYdZYPyQfA

 

[OldBlackDog]

Perspective

The following is a worthwhile read. Its author, Dr. Ehor Boyanowsky, is no stranger to the fisheries scene in British Columbia. He has been a consistent proponent of avoiding pathways our governmen…

steelheadvoices.com

 

[searun]

I don’t think the sports fishing community is ignoring the issue I just think there are very few who wish to support a cull publicly and light their reputations on fire.

imo one of the big influencers for removing fish farms besides First Nations of course was the pacific salmon foundation who no longer sat on the sidelines and starting putting out science supporting their removal.

if the pacific salmon foundation got behind a seal cull then I beleive that would open the flood gates of support.

For all those whom scoff at the growing science supporting the role seal predation is having on out-migrant smolts, I'm attaching a UBC Fisheries Science lecture from earlier today. Nelson et al....note the co-authorship in this work (Dr. Carl Walters, Dr. Andrew Trites et al).

 

[wildmanyeah]

If there is one thing I have learned from all this is that killing seals at pinch points is going to do very little and that you need to kill thousands upon thousands of seals year after year.

 

[wildmanyeah]

If the SFAB is looking to do something on the predation file then I think what a good first step would be is to ask dfo to include predation in their exploitation models.

 

[searun]

If the SFAB is looking to do something on the predation file then I think what a good first step would be is to ask dfo to include predation in their exploitation models.

Indeed, tricky issue for everyone. Also important that we don't advise DFO to put all our eggs into one basket - just need to assign priorities based on anticipated outcomes so the fishery plan is manageable. There's lots of stuff in a perfect limitless resources world we would all love to see...reality says otherwise.

 

[searun]

An interesting read, it looks like the Province is going to push for more closures to save fish. https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/ne...HRUkGXDykdXHQBMWdoe7tW5X9P_vJccxsteEYdZYPyQfA

And their track record with doing nothing and managing "fishermen" as the silver bullet is exactly what?

 

[wildmanyeah]

reality says otherwise.

well I guess you know where to file the seal predation issue than lol

 

[onefish]

What Would a British Columbia Seal and Sea Lion Cull Actually Entail? | Hakai Magazine

Proponents are calling for the deaths of at least 75,000 seals and sea lions in the first year.

www.hakaimagazine.com

A reasonably balanced article outlining the problems of a cull with, as Searun says,"alternative perspectives" from multiple points of view.
When you read through the article it quickly becomes obvious there is little chance of a massive cull as there are multiple factors that can be pointed to that cast doubt on the effectiveness and ramifications of a large scale cull. It looks to me like a cull, large enough to have a meaningful effect is simply a pipe dream at this point. Maybe our neighbours in Washington state can do a large scale cull in Puget sound to give us some actual data on the pre and post cull return numbers.