It's A Start...

[fogged in]

HARBOUR SEAL ATTACKS AND INJURES 4 KAYAKERS
The BC Marine Trails received a serious report earlier today. On July 9th, a Harbour Seal attacked a group of 4 experienced Kayakers in the Canoe Islets area of the Broughton Archipelago.
The group was paddling through a narrow channel in the Canoe Islets when the Seal jumped on the deck of one of their kayaks. The individual knocked the Seal off the boat and then it circled around from behind and jumped out of the water biting one paddler on their side just below the arm, puncturing the dry suit and capsizing the individual.
Two members of the group came to rescue their friend. One was bitten on the arm by the Seal, the bite puncturing their skin. Another member suddenly noticed the seal lunging up towards the face of another paddler but was able to yell in time so that the individual it was coming towards could hit the seal with their paddle. It finally left them alone.
The individual who was originally attacked also injured their knee at some point during the encounter, either when they capsized or when they were trying to get back into their kayak.
There have been two other reports of attacks in this exact same area, in 2013 and 2014, on the east side of Island #58. Consult marine charts 3545 / 3564 or the BC Marine Trails map - https://www.bcmarinetrails.org/bc-map for a better understanding of the exact location.

 

[IronNoggin]

HARBOUR SEAL ATTACKS AND INJURES 4 KAYAKERS

Link to this information Please & Thanks!

Google finds nada on this end...

Cheers,
Nog

 

[fogged in]

Link to this information Please & Thanks!
Google finds nada on this end...
Cheers,
Nog

I too Googled "Seals attack Kayakers" after your post and found lots of stories, mostly older, but nothing on this story.
There have been 2 instances I am aware of off Victoria this year where a kayaker has been attacked in a similar fashion by a seal.
The Story connected to BC Marine Trails came off a Social Network not a part of BC Marine Trails.
further to the Social Network ...
" Janice and Judy The Canoe Islets are just north of Owl and Cedar Islands. Suzie"
No reason to suspect it's not accurate.
Sorry, that's all I know about it.​

 

[bigdogg1]

Study Looks At Harbor Seal Predation, Wild Chinook Survival In Washington, British Columbia Waters
http://www.cbbulletin.com/441106.aspx

Thanks!

Factual, Science-based Statements from the article:

“Wild Chinook salmon productivity is negatively related to seal density, and not related to hatchery releases in the Pacific Northwest” was published online June 17, 2018 in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0481#.W0TIcdJKjIU).


Nelson’s co-authors – Carl Waters, Andrew Trites and Murdoch McAllister – are professors at the University of British Columbia.


The number of harbor seals grew rapidly following their federal protection from hunting and culling in both Canada and the United States, the study says, increasing from a few thousand in the late 1960s to over 40,000 in 2008 in the Strait of Georgia in southern British Columbia. The seal population further south in Puget Sound has seen a similar increase with a 7-fold increase in predation on juvenile salmon."