Tuesday January 16, 2024
BC Wildlife Federation —
A report to the federal government suggests that Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) take concrete steps to reduce seal and sea lion overpopulation to curtail pinniped predation on vulnerable wild salmon.
The Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans published and delivered to the House of Commons in December suggests DFO act on the concerns of conservation groups, scientists, harvesters and Indigenous people that pinniped population have “expanded to points of imbalance in certain regions.”
Several of the 17 detailed recommendations reference “the sustainability of prey populations” such as steelhead, coho, and Chinook as fuel for immediate action.
The committee heard that “on the British Columbia coast, sea lions consume over 300,000 tonnes of fish annually, more fish than all the commercial fisheries combined.”