Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetwater
Why is there no political will to manage these animals the way other over-abundant animals (e.g., deer) are managed when more threatened species are in trouble? How can we get our politicians to stand up and say (for example) "If you really care about cod stocks, the seal populations must be culled." What's it going to take? When are the self-proclaimed environmentalists going to realize that you can't manage by individual species....you can't eat your cod and have your seals too! It's all interconnected.
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There's no political will because it'd be too messy for them PR-wise to do so. Canada is dealing with exactly this problem right now. A recent study demonstrated a very close relation to the explosion of seals in Nova Scotia and the decimated cod stocks.
Seals blamed for lack of cod recovery - Nova Scotia - CBC News
They want to cull out 70% or the seal population. While that sounds like an extreme amount, consider that the seal population went from about 3,000 in the 1970s to about 300,000 - "a doubling of the population every seven years." Their politicians are facing *massive* push back by the treehuggers and liberals.
Bet the treehuggers also don't know that the delicious cod they eat is infested with parasitic worms due to their cute, cuddly seals.
Just think of the massive outcry and backlash the plover-lovers got when they wanted to poison the crows... and crows aren't cute.