The gray seal body count grew to six over the weekend when another seal with a fatal gunshot wound to the head washed up on the beaches of Cape Cod in Chatham, Massachusetts.
The shooter is being viewed as a cold-blooded killer by most, but the news has resurrected the difference of opinion about the seals that exists among Cape Cod’s residents and visitors. While nobody is stepping forward to condone the killings, there’s certainly a quiet segment of the fishing population who consider the seal killer something of a vigilante hero.
Many fishermen on Cape Cod, particularly surfcasters who ply the Outer Cape beaches, will tell you there’s too many seals. The gray seal population has exploded over the past couple decades and has had a noticeable effect on fishing in some areas. I spoke with an angler two years ago who told me he refuses to use expensive lures on the Outer Cape anymore because sooner or later a seal is going to take the fish he’s hooked and break his line.
Though conflicts between recreational fishermen and seals amounts to little more than a bad day at the beach (and perhaps some lost business for local tackle shops), for commercial fishermen, the seals are sometimes blamed for literally eating up their profits. And an 800-pound gray seal can eat up a lot of profits.
The pinniped murders have created enough of a stir to make National news. The ABC story came on a little strong with the picture of an adorable white seal pup picture and using the term “murder” rather than the more accurate “poaching” to describe the killing.
Up until 1962, you could get a bounty of around $5 for every seal nose you turned in, as they were considered pests to fishermen.
Now, the seal slayer could be facing up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine per seal.
Maybe they won’t be so adorable when a great white is thrashing to death someone’s child like in the movie”Jaws.” That is not fiction!
You shouldn’t swim in waters where there are sharks….duh….that doesnt mean we should kill seals….what the hell is wrong with people.
Although I am a 100% dedicated Stiper Fisherman and detest Seals with everything I have inside, I do not think it is responsible for anyone to shoot an animal and leave it to rot! Not for any reason. I do believe that Coastal Conservation Agencies should realize that there is an over poulation of thr Grey Seal and allow some type of approved population control measures. If the Seal was consumed by humans or other animals and not wasted, I believe that would put a different perspective in the minds of Animals Rights Supporters and Die Hard Fisherman such as my self. Simply put the population of Seals is far to high and needs reduction.
Too many seals then allow the sharks. You don’t want the sharks then no seals. It’s nature let it run its course.
It was said, “Enter the ocean and enter the food chain.” It will soon be, enter the woods and enter the food chain, too – just a matter of time. Predators follow the prey. I said years ago that as the population of deer and turkeys grow out of control, predators like the cougar and eastern coyote – much larger than coyotes from the rest of the USA and often thought of as a coywolf, will grow and menace humans. We will be part of the food chain for cougars, especially children, and we are part of the food chain for great whites every time we swim in the ocean.