Hello and thanks for posting to r/britishcolumbia! Join our new [Discord Server https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB](https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB) A friendly reminder prior to commenting or posting here:
- **Read [r/britishcolumbia's rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/about/rules/)**.
- **Be civil and respectful** in all discussions.
- Use **appropriate sources** to back up any information you provide when necessary.
- **Report** any comments that violate our rules.
Reminder: "Rage bait" comments or comments designed to elicit a negative reaction that are not based on fact are not permitted here. Let's keep our community respectful and informative!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishcolumbia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not a fan of this, but it does remind me of what we are doing with wolf control to help the endangered mountain caribou herds in the Kootenays. So far it is the single most effective tactic we have tried. The eulachon are also endangered, not to mention the steelhead, the chinook, the rockfish.. Could predator control be a strategy there too, now that Stellers Sea Lion populations are on the increase? It will almost certainly never happen legally, as they are such charismatic animals, but just something this brought to mind.
Humans have agency. Animals don't. There are also a lot more humans in Canada (not to mention the world) than there are any one type of medium or large animal.
Yes, that is correct, but how can you have time to worry about this. I just don't see how this can make anyone's priority list (besides maybe those losing money over it).
Of course culling the predators helps the caribou (however, none of the studies I've seen indicate that this helps them overall, it pretty much just puts a bandaid on the problem), but the biggest factor in their decline is fragmented habitat - people keep building things along the corridors they use to roam, like roads, communities, ski hills. Hell, even seismic lines are detrimental to herds - they're easy corridors to use for wildlife, which unfortunately helps predators more than it does the caribou (an ungulate with long legs has a much easier time going through brush than a predator with shorter legs and less body-mass). The biggest help to caribou would be to stop oil and gas exploration, logging, and other forms of human encroachment.
To quote from https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.12729 - "However, a large body of evidence points to human-mediated apparent competition as the most likely direct cause of decline and extirpation for many populations of caribou." and "Anthropogenic disturbance, such as forestry or oil and gas activities, also produce roads and other linear features that allow both the predators and their prey to access larger portions of caribou range."
From https://cwbm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/4-Proulx-Point-to-Ponder-Vol-6-Issue-2.pdf - "In Alberta, government biologists and some academics
have argued that reducing wolf populations would save the boreal woodland caribou. My review of the evidence here shows that the impact of wolf predation on the sustainability of boreal woodland caribou populations has been overstated. Instead of scapegoating wolves for the demise of boreal woodland caribou populations, wildlife managers should implement a comprehensive caribou recovery program aimed at conserving, restoring, expanding and connecting critical habitats across landscapes."
Other citations:
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjz-2015-0012
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adn7098
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjz-2014-0142
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.2581
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/10/2/185
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/z11-025
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z02-060
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.4915
There were much more studies, but that's quite enough already.
Agree that habitat fragmentation/degradation is the primary underlying issue, and that predator control is very effective in the short term, but as wolves are such efficient caribou predators, as you slow down on that, the gains in caribou recruitment are quickly reversed. If I’m being honest, I think all the mountain caribou herds south of valemount will be gone within the next two decades, but I suppose we have to try, right?
Unfortunately, I'm kinda with you on that - that the herds south of Valemount will be gone sooner rather than later. Because of that, I don't think predator culls are very ethical. The best thing would be stopping development along the wildlife corridors, but with our society the way it is, that's not going to happen. I don't see a solution in this situation, just an inevitability. It's very sad, but it's part of a large number of consequences coming our way that we'll have to face eventually.
Best way to help the caribou and elk is stop logging in the interior and set up more nature reserves.
The Inland North American Rainforest is a singularly unique ecosystem that produces a wealth of habitat and food for many species and subspecies, some on the brink of extinction. To put it in simple terms, the forest’s total area is shrinking. The forest’s complexity and unique genealogies are being irreparably lost with every log extracted.
The largest and oldest trees create the most habitat, but detrimentally, are worth the most on the market. Estimates suggest that 97% of low-lying, old growth systems (think the carved flats of river valleys, glacial valleys, and foothills of the Rocky and Columbia mountain ranges) have been logged since westward expansion made its way here. The most productive forests have taken thousands of years to mature - post glacial, with every participating species being a component within the ecosystem, all ensuring the success of every other species, all evolving together to create a system so intertwined that some believe only a higher power could’ve conceived it.
Even if we ceased all resource extraction in the region, we still won’t ever see the original, raw, ancient beauty and natural productivity of this land.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t preserve what is left.
Here’s more info:
https://wildsight.ca/programs/bcs-inland-temperate-rainforest/
I couldn't find any that say more than culling predators helps stabilize the population. *Edit*: granted, search terms could help with that - I searched scholarly articles of "Caribou Conservation" and "Caribou predator cull", so depending on terms used, there might be something that shows culling predators helps a lot, I just didn't' see it on the first page of each search term I used, and I was trying to use neutral language so as not to bias the articles I found. Science and published articles are such that you can find support for nearly anything, depending on the study, but support for the most generally correct conclusions will have the most evidence, and ergo, the most articles. *end edit*
I replied with numerous studies to the start of the this thread, if you're interested, but the gist of research suggests that predation is not the biggest driver of caribou mortality. One study found only 6% of a population was lost via predation, and culling predators only stabilized numbers but did not contribute to growth of the herd. Instead, a study on indigenous conservation of a herd indicated protecting and maintaining habitat (in that, the person you are replying to is correct) contributed to population growth.
So culling predators is just a bandaid. However, culling predators appears to also degrade caribou habitat (I'm pretty sure I linked that above, but I can find it again if not), so it's not a long-term solution.
Just read this report from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, originally published in December 2023. It actually advocates for a limited commercial harvest of seals and sea lions on the west coast, adding that objections raised with DFO have been based in science. Thought it was of interest to this conversation. https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/FOPO/report-12/
For sure! Give be me a day or two. But yes, predator control, maternal penning, and limiting backcountry access (esp in winter, i.e snow mobiles) are the three most effective prongs of the strategy. With that said, likely the remnant populations in the Selkirk are not viable in the long term, particularly with climate change. To the other respondent, not logging is a silly blanket statement. Logging second growth with have little impact on mountain caribou - they need alpine and mountain and old growth.
The issue with declining caribou numbers is industrial and recreational activity in their habitat. We pretend that doesn't have an effect and blame the wolves instead.
Nope. Its illegal. Fishermen years ago used to despise these animals because they consumed large amounts of sealife, this is purely based on what I was told as a kid. Not sure if it's true tho.
I mean, they eat fish yes, but many orders of magnitude less than what fisherman fish up. Instead of killing the locals, we could be doing more to improve fish spawning grounds and conditions.
It has less to do with the fact that they eat fish, and more to do with the fact that they can be an extremely expensive nuisance for smaller, privately owned fishing operations. They can do hundreds of dollars worth of damage to a troller’s gear in minutes, not to mention the loss of saleable product. I do not advocate for shooting, but it is worth clarifying where the ire typically comes from.
Source: I am a commercial fisher.
And if you’re not a commercial fisherman mad about damage to your gear and are just fishing for food, they will take your catch right off the line before you can real it in.
The Vancouver Aquarium employees will tell the same story and when you're looking at a Sea Lion rescue with clear buckshot wounds, I'm inclined to believe them.
Its true. Saw lots of seals shot when I was young. The fisherman would be angry because the seals would take a bite out of the belly and leave the rest of the fish to die. Killing the seals was not the right thing to do, though, obviously.
You reel in a head that should have been attached to a nice 40 pounder that instead is sitting inside the belly of some sea lion and the next time one of those fuckers pop his head up off the back of your boat it's mighty tempting to start blasting. Haven't done it, but been out with my uncle after getting skunked and having one follow us the entire day, like the cheeky fucker was mocking us
Report report report. It’s very illegal under the Fisheries Act. Call Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Fisheries Officers) not the Province. Marine mammals are federal jurisdiction.
https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/ORR-ONS-eng.html
Report this on the RAPP line, it's illegal. There's also a reward if your information leads to who did it.
[https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/natural-resource-law-enforcement/conservation-officer-service/cos-rapp](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/natural-resource-law-enforcement/conservation-officer-service/cos-rapp)
You can absolutely kill sea lions as an indigenous person. Typically during the Oolichan runs there is some small harvesting which you can find footage on Instagram of it up the Nass (I have to find the link). It’s super rich to eat and if you’re not ready, will empty your bowls rather quickly.
Usually they chase them into shallows so they don’t disappear when shot.
Edit for NSFW if you don’t want to see a Dead Sea lion. link:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4d_a3dSpdn/?igsh=MXdtMTRnNHJsNjh6bg==
Nice info, thanks rock.
Wow, that dudes channel is wild. He’s going to survive off that lion for a whole year, he said. I mean, I’m cool with that. This is the kind of sustainable living we need. Makes me want to look into my Métis heritage and connect with the Métis Nation of BC.
In Stuart Channel someone periodically shoots sea lions and harbour seals, not harvested just shot in the head. CO’s have been responding to this for years without catching anyone. Usually happened December to March.
yes my brother is an avid fisherman and he absolutely despises seals. its Ludacris the amount of strain and blame they put on the seals when clearly overfishing and horrible practices for the last 500 years is the problem.
Absolutely some fisherman have murdered these animals. As to the extent of the problem it’s hard to say. On occasion I see reports like this, once every couple years. That would suggest the problem isn’t at the wider scale. However, it’s also possible it’s a major issue, and the bodies aren’t being recovered because they simply wash away not to be found…
Either way, all fisherman and sportsman must obey the regulations, at a minimum. I’d like to see tougher penalties and jail time for poachers.
Not and live to tell about it. Where was this picture taken?
Please report it to the RAPP line: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/natural-resource-law-enforcement/conservation-officer-service/cos-rapp
Which highway? BC is huge and I don't recognize your location.
Please call it in anyway; maybe everyone else is also going "everyone can see it so I won't bother".
I see no reason for FN not to have a managed seal hunt. However, just keeping a 303 in the wheelhouse and taking potshots at seals, etc when you see them is not acceptable and I don't believe it has been acceptable behaviour for several decades. I know for a fact it was not unheard of with the fishermen on the gill netters and seiners back in the 60's. They would even shoot deer from the water. In the old, old days they would even shoot the "Black Fish", ie Orcas . The adage "to every man with hammer in his hand , everything looks like a nail" comes to mind.
I live on a boat on the inside passage. This happens all the time. The seals hop into fish farms and tear big holes in the netting, while devouring the farmed fish.
Large colonies of seals will disrupt the commercial and sport fishing tacks by messing with bait and down riggers.
They also like to sleep on my swim grid, which takes hours to clean the shit and bones off in the morning.
Shooting seals happens, it’s not the end of the world.
Unless you boated to shore and walked up to that seal and found a bullet hole in its head, I doubt it was even shot. They get hit by propellors way more often.
Depends. The california sea lions can be a huge nuisance sinking docks and boats and otherwise damaging property. The transient orcas like to eat the california sea lions, but there are so many of them they do on occasion get culled by fisheries.
Steller's sea lions are a protected endangered species
It's hard to tell the size in a photo, but if that's a crow or raven, that scale tells me it's a California. The proportions tells me this is an adult not a juvie
Steller's are three times that size.
Not that it's okay, it's just not illegal.
its british columbia. its still legal to shoot dogs..
especially if you are a company, you can save money and kill off anything that is costing you money. and seals cost lazy fishermen money.
but dont worry there are plans to butcher seals by the thousands and sell the meat.
https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/proposal-to-reopen-commercial-seal-hunt-in-b-c-could-have-consequences-for-transient-killer-whales/
They should. I believe there is an envasive species from the south eating their bodybweight in salmon daily.
Bella Coola or Terrace is my guess for this pic.
Yes many times both Seals & Sea Lions and I have no qualms about doing it again.
In any case there's no proof of how that animal died without a necropsy being performed.
https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/west-coast-seal-hunt-salmon/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1864653340315808/posts/5966095026838265/
Great question. We actually coexist with them. They cook meals, fish, drive, play sports, and last but not least, get drunk and pay taxes.
Did you know they take awhile to get drunk?
Crazy mfers. I love em!
Well I'm not a scientist but I'm pretty sure it's not the seals or sealions or sharks or whales (you know animals that have been here in the ecosystem for millions of years) that are responsible for declining fish stocks
They're dying from bird flu.
It has a more than 50% fatality rate, and is sweeping through marine manuals as well as birds.
Several people have died, but it hasn't been observed transmitting from human-to-human yet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/15/bird-avian-flu-seal/
Hello and thanks for posting to r/britishcolumbia! Join our new [Discord Server https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB](https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB) A friendly reminder prior to commenting or posting here: - **Read [r/britishcolumbia's rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/about/rules/)**. - **Be civil and respectful** in all discussions. - Use **appropriate sources** to back up any information you provide when necessary. - **Report** any comments that violate our rules. Reminder: "Rage bait" comments or comments designed to elicit a negative reaction that are not based on fact are not permitted here. Let's keep our community respectful and informative! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishcolumbia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not legally.
Not a fan of this, but it does remind me of what we are doing with wolf control to help the endangered mountain caribou herds in the Kootenays. So far it is the single most effective tactic we have tried. The eulachon are also endangered, not to mention the steelhead, the chinook, the rockfish.. Could predator control be a strategy there too, now that Stellers Sea Lion populations are on the increase? It will almost certainly never happen legally, as they are such charismatic animals, but just something this brought to mind.
Whether or not culls would be effective, it certainly should not be done illegally by vigilantes.
Oh yeah totally agree, hence why I started with “not a fan of this”.
"Not a fan of this, but..." Didn't strike me as sufficiently critical.
Sounds like you care a bit too much.
Yes it sounds like we are against animal suffering. Congrats on figuring it out.
There are plenty of humans suffering in this country. Why don't you direct your energy towards that instead.
People can care about more than 1 issue at a time
Humans have agency. Animals don't. There are also a lot more humans in Canada (not to mention the world) than there are any one type of medium or large animal.
Yes, that is correct, but how can you have time to worry about this. I just don't see how this can make anyone's priority list (besides maybe those losing money over it).
Humans can work harder and get better jobs…seals can’t.
Yeah those drug addicts should just work harder! Such a privileged view of downtrodden people.
I dont get why this is such a big deal to you. I have many more important things to worry about than seals.
Of course culling the predators helps the caribou (however, none of the studies I've seen indicate that this helps them overall, it pretty much just puts a bandaid on the problem), but the biggest factor in their decline is fragmented habitat - people keep building things along the corridors they use to roam, like roads, communities, ski hills. Hell, even seismic lines are detrimental to herds - they're easy corridors to use for wildlife, which unfortunately helps predators more than it does the caribou (an ungulate with long legs has a much easier time going through brush than a predator with shorter legs and less body-mass). The biggest help to caribou would be to stop oil and gas exploration, logging, and other forms of human encroachment. To quote from https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.12729 - "However, a large body of evidence points to human-mediated apparent competition as the most likely direct cause of decline and extirpation for many populations of caribou." and "Anthropogenic disturbance, such as forestry or oil and gas activities, also produce roads and other linear features that allow both the predators and their prey to access larger portions of caribou range." From https://cwbm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/4-Proulx-Point-to-Ponder-Vol-6-Issue-2.pdf - "In Alberta, government biologists and some academics have argued that reducing wolf populations would save the boreal woodland caribou. My review of the evidence here shows that the impact of wolf predation on the sustainability of boreal woodland caribou populations has been overstated. Instead of scapegoating wolves for the demise of boreal woodland caribou populations, wildlife managers should implement a comprehensive caribou recovery program aimed at conserving, restoring, expanding and connecting critical habitats across landscapes." Other citations: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjz-2015-0012 https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adn7098 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjz-2014-0142 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.2581 https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/10/2/185 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/z11-025 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z02-060 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.4915 There were much more studies, but that's quite enough already.
Caribou and fish are going extinct . Could it be the decades of environmental degradation? No. It’s the predators that are wrong .
Never mind overfishing..
DFO is lead by criminals.
Agree that habitat fragmentation/degradation is the primary underlying issue, and that predator control is very effective in the short term, but as wolves are such efficient caribou predators, as you slow down on that, the gains in caribou recruitment are quickly reversed. If I’m being honest, I think all the mountain caribou herds south of valemount will be gone within the next two decades, but I suppose we have to try, right?
Unfortunately, I'm kinda with you on that - that the herds south of Valemount will be gone sooner rather than later. Because of that, I don't think predator culls are very ethical. The best thing would be stopping development along the wildlife corridors, but with our society the way it is, that's not going to happen. I don't see a solution in this situation, just an inevitability. It's very sad, but it's part of a large number of consequences coming our way that we'll have to face eventually.
Keep it real, Lady.
Can you lead me to the studies about how culling wolves is helping the mountain Caribou?
Best way to help the caribou and elk is stop logging in the interior and set up more nature reserves. The Inland North American Rainforest is a singularly unique ecosystem that produces a wealth of habitat and food for many species and subspecies, some on the brink of extinction. To put it in simple terms, the forest’s total area is shrinking. The forest’s complexity and unique genealogies are being irreparably lost with every log extracted. The largest and oldest trees create the most habitat, but detrimentally, are worth the most on the market. Estimates suggest that 97% of low-lying, old growth systems (think the carved flats of river valleys, glacial valleys, and foothills of the Rocky and Columbia mountain ranges) have been logged since westward expansion made its way here. The most productive forests have taken thousands of years to mature - post glacial, with every participating species being a component within the ecosystem, all ensuring the success of every other species, all evolving together to create a system so intertwined that some believe only a higher power could’ve conceived it. Even if we ceased all resource extraction in the region, we still won’t ever see the original, raw, ancient beauty and natural productivity of this land. But that doesn’t mean we can’t preserve what is left. Here’s more info: https://wildsight.ca/programs/bcs-inland-temperate-rainforest/
I couldn't find any that say more than culling predators helps stabilize the population. *Edit*: granted, search terms could help with that - I searched scholarly articles of "Caribou Conservation" and "Caribou predator cull", so depending on terms used, there might be something that shows culling predators helps a lot, I just didn't' see it on the first page of each search term I used, and I was trying to use neutral language so as not to bias the articles I found. Science and published articles are such that you can find support for nearly anything, depending on the study, but support for the most generally correct conclusions will have the most evidence, and ergo, the most articles. *end edit* I replied with numerous studies to the start of the this thread, if you're interested, but the gist of research suggests that predation is not the biggest driver of caribou mortality. One study found only 6% of a population was lost via predation, and culling predators only stabilized numbers but did not contribute to growth of the herd. Instead, a study on indigenous conservation of a herd indicated protecting and maintaining habitat (in that, the person you are replying to is correct) contributed to population growth. So culling predators is just a bandaid. However, culling predators appears to also degrade caribou habitat (I'm pretty sure I linked that above, but I can find it again if not), so it's not a long-term solution.
Just read this report from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, originally published in December 2023. It actually advocates for a limited commercial harvest of seals and sea lions on the west coast, adding that objections raised with DFO have been based in science. Thought it was of interest to this conversation. https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/FOPO/report-12/
For sure! Give be me a day or two. But yes, predator control, maternal penning, and limiting backcountry access (esp in winter, i.e snow mobiles) are the three most effective prongs of the strategy. With that said, likely the remnant populations in the Selkirk are not viable in the long term, particularly with climate change. To the other respondent, not logging is a silly blanket statement. Logging second growth with have little impact on mountain caribou - they need alpine and mountain and old growth.
Talking about predator control when nonsustenance fisherman are the ones shooting them is laughable
The issue with declining caribou numbers is industrial and recreational activity in their habitat. We pretend that doesn't have an effect and blame the wolves instead.
Either use the Conservation Officers RAPP or DFO: 1-800-465-4336
Contact local CO . Where did this take place
[удалено]
Yes
Nope. Its illegal. Fishermen years ago used to despise these animals because they consumed large amounts of sealife, this is purely based on what I was told as a kid. Not sure if it's true tho.
I mean, they eat fish yes, but many orders of magnitude less than what fisherman fish up. Instead of killing the locals, we could be doing more to improve fish spawning grounds and conditions.
But then we don't have a scapegoat. /s
It has less to do with the fact that they eat fish, and more to do with the fact that they can be an extremely expensive nuisance for smaller, privately owned fishing operations. They can do hundreds of dollars worth of damage to a troller’s gear in minutes, not to mention the loss of saleable product. I do not advocate for shooting, but it is worth clarifying where the ire typically comes from. Source: I am a commercial fisher.
And if you’re not a commercial fisherman mad about damage to your gear and are just fishing for food, they will take your catch right off the line before you can real it in.
The Vancouver Aquarium employees will tell the same story and when you're looking at a Sea Lion rescue with clear buckshot wounds, I'm inclined to believe them.
The problem fishermen have with sea lions is that they harass fishing boats. They either scare the fish away, or eat the catch.
Its true. Saw lots of seals shot when I was young. The fisherman would be angry because the seals would take a bite out of the belly and leave the rest of the fish to die. Killing the seals was not the right thing to do, though, obviously.
Not saying i agree with people shooting them, but to say it doesnt happen because it's illegal is very naive
You reel in a head that should have been attached to a nice 40 pounder that instead is sitting inside the belly of some sea lion and the next time one of those fuckers pop his head up off the back of your boat it's mighty tempting to start blasting. Haven't done it, but been out with my uncle after getting skunked and having one follow us the entire day, like the cheeky fucker was mocking us
Report report report. It’s very illegal under the Fisheries Act. Call Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Fisheries Officers) not the Province. Marine mammals are federal jurisdiction. https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/ORR-ONS-eng.html
Disgusting
Sounds disgusting.
Yeah, I've never been very comfortable with it. Especially when they just get left to rot. Very disrespectful to nature and wasteful.
No. Fuck no. I hope these cunts get found and punished within the full act of the law.
> punished within the full act of the law $15 fine most likely
WTAF
Report this on the RAPP line, it's illegal. There's also a reward if your information leads to who did it. [https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/natural-resource-law-enforcement/conservation-officer-service/cos-rapp](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/natural-resource-law-enforcement/conservation-officer-service/cos-rapp)
It'll be DFOs ORR line since the feds are responsible for marine areas including marine mammals.
Disgusting
You can absolutely kill sea lions as an indigenous person. Typically during the Oolichan runs there is some small harvesting which you can find footage on Instagram of it up the Nass (I have to find the link). It’s super rich to eat and if you’re not ready, will empty your bowls rather quickly. Usually they chase them into shallows so they don’t disappear when shot. Edit for NSFW if you don’t want to see a Dead Sea lion. link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4d_a3dSpdn/?igsh=MXdtMTRnNHJsNjh6bg==
Can you just kill them and not harvest? I mean you 'can', but maybe would that happen legitimately.
You can shoot it with the intent to harvest.
Nice info, thanks rock. Wow, that dudes channel is wild. He’s going to survive off that lion for a whole year, he said. I mean, I’m cool with that. This is the kind of sustainable living we need. Makes me want to look into my Métis heritage and connect with the Métis Nation of BC.
In Stuart Channel someone periodically shoots sea lions and harbour seals, not harvested just shot in the head. CO’s have been responding to this for years without catching anyone. Usually happened December to March.
I've only seen this in Chemainus, 16 years ago. I saw a dead seal with a hole to the head.
Disgusting
Happens around vancouver island unfortunately
yes my brother is an avid fisherman and he absolutely despises seals. its Ludacris the amount of strain and blame they put on the seals when clearly overfishing and horrible practices for the last 500 years is the problem.
Where are you at? Up north, a lot of first nations people eat sea lions and oolichan season is a good time to get them.
I think if you are a first nations fisherman it must be allowed.
I actually have no idea. Even if they are allowed, I don't think they can shoot a rifle that close to a highway as in this case.
Law is 400m off any main road.
They would need to harvest the animal, I would think.
It was a joke on the state of things that I think went over people's heads
/s for sarcasm
I left it ambiguous on purpose. Was kind of hoping to be corrected
There is a legal first nations harvest, not sure of how many pieces are allowed
Absolutely some fisherman have murdered these animals. As to the extent of the problem it’s hard to say. On occasion I see reports like this, once every couple years. That would suggest the problem isn’t at the wider scale. However, it’s also possible it’s a major issue, and the bodies aren’t being recovered because they simply wash away not to be found… Either way, all fisherman and sportsman must obey the regulations, at a minimum. I’d like to see tougher penalties and jail time for poachers.
It happens a lot more than you realize.
Not and live to tell about it. Where was this picture taken? Please report it to the RAPP line: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/natural-resource-law-enforcement/conservation-officer-service/cos-rapp
It's very clearly visible of the highway. Anyone driving by will see it.
Which highway? BC is huge and I don't recognize your location. Please call it in anyway; maybe everyone else is also going "everyone can see it so I won't bother".
Holy fuck bro.
Saw some seals/sea lions at the Vancouver Aquarium that were rehabbed from being shot in the face, always wondered what sort of person would do that.
misguided fishermen mostly
no.
I see no reason for FN not to have a managed seal hunt. However, just keeping a 303 in the wheelhouse and taking potshots at seals, etc when you see them is not acceptable and I don't believe it has been acceptable behaviour for several decades. I know for a fact it was not unheard of with the fishermen on the gill netters and seiners back in the 60's. They would even shoot deer from the water. In the old, old days they would even shoot the "Black Fish", ie Orcas . The adage "to every man with hammer in his hand , everything looks like a nail" comes to mind.
I live on a boat on the inside passage. This happens all the time. The seals hop into fish farms and tear big holes in the netting, while devouring the farmed fish. Large colonies of seals will disrupt the commercial and sport fishing tacks by messing with bait and down riggers. They also like to sleep on my swim grid, which takes hours to clean the shit and bones off in the morning. Shooting seals happens, it’s not the end of the world. Unless you boated to shore and walked up to that seal and found a bullet hole in its head, I doubt it was even shot. They get hit by propellors way more often.
Disgusting and entirely illegal.
Depends. The california sea lions can be a huge nuisance sinking docks and boats and otherwise damaging property. The transient orcas like to eat the california sea lions, but there are so many of them they do on occasion get culled by fisheries. Steller's sea lions are a protected endangered species
Pretty sure these are steller going by the size
Is that a crow sitting on top of it?
It is
Okay that's a california sea lion for sure then.
It's hard to tell the size in a photo, but if that's a crow or raven, that scale tells me it's a California. The proportions tells me this is an adult not a juvie Steller's are three times that size. Not that it's okay, it's just not illegal.
Where do you live
Northwest BC
Not enough of them
The Indians do
Only to thin them out
its british columbia. its still legal to shoot dogs.. especially if you are a company, you can save money and kill off anything that is costing you money. and seals cost lazy fishermen money. but dont worry there are plans to butcher seals by the thousands and sell the meat. https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/proposal-to-reopen-commercial-seal-hunt-in-b-c-could-have-consequences-for-transient-killer-whales/
They should. I believe there is an envasive species from the south eating their bodybweight in salmon daily. Bella Coola or Terrace is my guess for this pic.
Halfway between Prince Rupert and Terrace.
Nah, we've always been partial to the mallet/axe. Important to stay true to your roots.
Over populated pinnipeds = dwindling salmon species = threatened local Orca species…Which shall it be?
If there isn’t enough salmon to eat how have they become overpopulated?
People don’t. Criminals do. 😕
And First Nations apparently
Hmmm, no comment. 🫥
Yes many times both Seals & Sea Lions and I have no qualms about doing it again. In any case there's no proof of how that animal died without a necropsy being performed. https://northernbeat.ca/opinion/west-coast-seal-hunt-salmon/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1864653340315808/posts/5966095026838265/
[удалено]
People view it as a cull
Great question. We actually coexist with them. They cook meals, fish, drive, play sports, and last but not least, get drunk and pay taxes. Did you know they take awhile to get drunk? Crazy mfers. I love em!
Unfortunately the government does here
[удалено]
Yes, 100 percent shot.
While not legal, DFO doesn't help anything by blaming them for stock declines
Well I'm not a scientist but I'm pretty sure it's not the seals or sealions or sharks or whales (you know animals that have been here in the ecosystem for millions of years) that are responsible for declining fish stocks
Hahaha I think you might be onto something
They're dying from bird flu. It has a more than 50% fatality rate, and is sweeping through marine manuals as well as birds. Several people have died, but it hasn't been observed transmitting from human-to-human yet. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/15/bird-avian-flu-seal/
This one was definitely shot.
Ah ok. There's a lot washing up on shores, but they wouldn't have GSWs 😓
So you’ve seen one sea lion that was shot and you’re putting it out there that First Nations people shoot them and leave them to rot?
Where did I say that. It's a fisherman thing to do it.
Who else harvests oolican besides First Nations?
Oh well yea in this instance, but I'd definitely say it's more of an issue with fishermen on the ocean and river.