Grey Seal Onslaught

[seabuggy]

I saw a pic of the beach littered with dead stripers with their bellies bitten out by grey seals. These were not schoolies either they were all keeper fish. Around the Elizabeth Is. they are everywhere. When a seal shows up, fishing stops. I've had them come up six feet from my swim platform. Muskeget Is. is loaded with them. Is this common everywhere in our area? Has anyone had similar experiences?

[niko]

I’ve watched seals scarfing down whole keepers and grab a big fish by the shoulder and rip off a fillet. Probably stolen fish or post release casualties. I think they estimate the north west Atlantic population of gray seals at over 400 thousand- (US, Canada, Greenland). The MMPA worked well and there is very little chance of ever changing it. Most of the general public only think of the cute and cuddly baby harbor and harp seals when they think of seals and guys clubbing them to death. Canada has a limited cull in some areas and can’t even convince their people to expand the hunt - and they have 10-20 times as many seals then us. There is a small push up there to utilize the resource up there but without the US market opening up for them it just won’t happen. It is considered the reason for the cod stock not rebounding in Canada and cods been essentially been closed up there fore 30 years. So as far as stripers go we need to have a healthy and growing stock to sustain the gray seals growing population. Maybe a nice seal plague would develop but that’s about the only chance of knocking down their numbers
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[wdmso]

Like humans once 1 fish type is fished out they move to the next fish that was considered garbage

Seals are just moving to a new food source that's getting pressure from human and nature

Guess they kill and eat harbor porpoise also

[piemma]

There once was a bounty on them. $5 a nose.

[seabuggy]

The seals are one reason we are seeing a rise in white shark visitors. I thought the sharks may help, but they only eat one per week. We would need more sharks to get any relief. If you get a chance, look at Muskeget Is and Gull Is near Penekese. Unbelievable number of seals. Very close to prime striper territory.

[afterhours]

I've had them track us on the beach ( from the water ) and take hooked fish off our lines. Wish the folks in Japan would develop a taste for them and we could modify the Marine Mammal Protection Act...

[seabuggy]

There is a group formed to fight the seals, CAMMPA Coalition to Amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They are well staffed and manned by prominent area groups including charter men, white shark opposition, and others interested in abating the grey seal issue.