Editor:
Re: “Seals out of balance,” Letters, Jan. 11.
Of course, humans always need to blame other animal species for the decline of other animal species. Humans are quick to “cull” wolves, seals and other animals that compete with humans.
I like to quote David Suzuki: “Humans are the main threat to wildlife. We must take responsibility and change our destructive ways. If we want orcas and other species to survive, we should look in the mirror and change our own behaviour.”
Our southern resident orcas are dependent on chinook salmon. The Fraser River, one of B.C.’s most important salmon rivers, is highly depleted from habitat destruction, fisheries, agricultural runoff and disease threats from open net-pen salmon farms.
It is easy to blame seals and sea lions but blaming seals doesn’t explain low chinook returns. David Suzuki goes on by saying, “According to one study, only four per cent of a seal’s diet is salmon and an even smaller proportion is chinook. They eat all species of ‘juvenile’ salmon, not the adult ones the sports fisherman are after. They eat small fish, such as hake which are major salmon smolt predators. It’s plausible that a seal’s presence increases rather than decreases chinook numbers.”
The transient orcas, who are also seen here, do eat seals and sea lions, thus natural predators are already in place. We do not need culling by humans.
C. van Berkel, Sechelt
