“it’s now time to harvest or cull the seals and sea lions”
“The
greatest road to extinction of salmon is all due to overpopulation of seals and
sea lions” – Thomas Sewid of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
Let us harvest and manage the population of
seals in the Pacific Northwest.
That will be the central message carried by a group of First Nations elders to this week’s pinniped workshop in Bellingham, Washington.
The second seal & sea lion workshop
addressing what needs to be done about the overpopulation is put on by
Washington State Fish & Game and Canada’s Department of Fisheries &
Oceans.
This workshop is part of the process addressing
the call for a cull or harvest of seals and sea lions in Washington and British
Columbia waters.
“Enough studies have been done…it’s now
time to harvest or cull the seals and sea lions…if not we are certain to see
the extinction of many salmon runs throughout the Pacific Northwest,” said Thomas
Sewid, President of Pacific Balance Marine Management Inc. which is an all
First Nations British Columbia group pushing for license to sell pinniped
products.
“The greatest road to extinction of salmon
is all due to overpopulation of seals and sea lions,” he said.
The United States announced earlier this
year that it will allow the killing of up to 920 sea lions a year in the
Pacific North West to protect endangered wild fish stocks.
The lethal removal program, for the first time, allows American native tribes to kill sea lions that are threatening endangered salmon and steelhead runs to extinction.
Since 1975, when the California sea lion population was estimated at 88,924 animals, their numbers have boomed, and it is estimated there are now approximately 257,631 animals, NOAA statistics show.
The hunting of seals and sea lions has been
banned on Canada’s West Coast for more than 40 years. The harbour seal
population in the Salish Sea is estimated at about 80,000 today, up from 8,600
in 1975.
Sewid’s group estimates that of the 27
million chinook smolts produced a year in the Salish Sea (wild and hatchery)
the seals are consuming about 24 million of them.
A University of B.C.-led study published
last year in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences also found
that “changes in the numbers of seals since the 1970s were associated with a
74-per-cent decrease in the maximum sustainable yield in chinook stocks.”
“British Columbia has just experienced no
commercial fisheries on many salmon stocks this spring, summer and fall, all
due to disastrous returns,” said Sewid.
“B.C.
First Nations are on the verge of losing boats and homes due to no commercial
salmon revenue generation and many have no food fish to speak of for this
winter.”
Sewid of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation,
also took aim at eco-activists fighting proposals for a seal and sea lion
harvest or cull in B.C. waters.
“The most destructive invasive species to
be allowed to breed throughout Turtle Island a.k.a North America is the
environmentalist. The Inuit can harvest on the most part unimpeded by
environmentalists all due to their isolation. We cannot have that throughout
the Pacific Northwest, but we can be left alone to harvest if Canada and the
U.S. make or change laws regarding seals and sea lions.
“We Indians shall be at this workshop
ensuring a voice of reason supporting a seal and sea lion cull or harvest is
ensured,” he said.
Among those who will be attending the
workshop will be Hereditary Chief Roy Jones Jr. of the Haida First Nation and
Richard Harry C.E.O. of the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association.
Together under the Pacific Balance Marine
Management Inc. they have identified numerous markets for all parts of seals
and sea lions from furs, human food consumption, pet food consumption and
medicinal needs from the Omega 3 fatty acids found in the oil.
This includes regional and International
markets.
“Our organization anticipates over 4000
B.C. jobs from seal and sea lion harvests, if the Canadian Federal Department
of Fisheries & Oceans allows a licensed harvest,” said Sewid.
Earlier, this month, Sewid, Chief Roy Jones
Jr. and others met with a Chinese delegation to discuss potential partnerships
and markets for a commercial seal hunt in B.C.
Canada exports furs worth about $100
million to China, including products from the legal East Coast seal hunt. The
hunting and trapping industry in Canada is worth about $1 billion.
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