|
One other aspect of the seals would be the fact that they may migrate, but not very far. They find a nice place to raise their young, and PRESTO: you now have a breeding rookery. Now the seals will use this as their "center of operations", heading elsewhere to feed, but returning back to the colony.
What this has probably done is set up the perfect opportunity for the seals to hunt up and down the Mass shores and return to their "new homes" to feed their young. After the young have fledged/left the nest, so to speak, the adults aren't just going to leave.
Just like humans, they will eat all that they can within their "home" range, and then proceed to increase their range to find food.
What this means is that the areas close to their nesting sites will be devoid of most larger species of fish, starting with flounder, skates, cunners and porgies.
Think about it: if there is a store 1 block away that ran out of your favorites snack, would you stop going there, or check in from time to time to see if they have it again? Seals would follow the same practice. It's not a "human" trait to wipe out an area of food, we just put a "human" name on it and claimed we caused it first.
|