"Seal protections create imbalance"

[JohnnyD]

The following is an opinion piece sent to me printed in the Cape Cod Times about the Seal population, and the potential effects they are having on other native animals and Cape Cod's tourism.

It is a very interesting piece that will hopefully get the layman, non-fisherman, thinking about the lasting effects those cute, cuddly seals are having on all the people of the Outer Cape, and not just us selfish fishermen.

September 24, 2009

The recent increase in sightings of great white sharks in the coastal waters off of Cape Cod has made the news in a rather sensational way. Great whites are now present in our near-shore areas in numbers sufficient to produce multiple sightings and ultimately cause beach closures.

These spectacular animals are here for one reason, and that is the abundance of a favorite food source in the many seals that now inhabit a wide range of Cape Cod's seashore and islands, with a particularly large population on Monomoy Island. The sharks themselves pose only a minimal threat to humans and no threat to the marine ecology; however, the same cannot be said for the shark's favored food source.

In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act included seals (along with whales and polar bears) under a blanket protection act. Even after some changes in 1994 which shifted pinnipeds (which includes seals) from "protection status" to "managed status" the increase in their numbers on Cape Cod has produced numerous deleterious results. Among these include:

* Threat to public health: Numerous beach closures due to high levels of fecal coliform believed due to seal excrement. This is the same bacteria that has shut down whole town water supplies. There are also increased beach closures due to seal predation by sharks.

* Injury to threatened species: The seal populations are occupying and preventing access to key nesting areas for piping plovers and least terns.

* Injury to recovering cod stocks and threat to public health: Seals harbor a parasite (parasitic round worm) in their gut that infects any cod that consume seal excrement. This can impact the health of the cod as well as humans (though rarely) who consume that cod. Seals also readily predate upon young cod.

* Injury to other marine species: Anecdotal evidence suggests that seals on the outer cape have virtually eliminated populations of windowpane flounder, skate and fluke from those areas where the seal populations are largest.

* Restriction to human access and recreation: Seals often harass fisherman by taking hooked fish off the line, limit beach access due to protection of "haul out" areas and close beaches due to excrement and by attracting the presence of predatory sharks.

* Impact on the Cape's economy: All of these issues reduce tourism, which is the lifeblood for the Cape, affecting lodging, restaurants, visitation to attractions, and shopping.

Ecologically we know that in the absence of predators, a prey species will begin to overwhelm its environment and consume available resources unchecked. This is often seen when invasive species, such as the zebra mussel, Asian longhorned beetle and purple loosestrife are introduced to an area void of its normal predators.

The same occurs when a predator of a native species is removed from the environment. Humans have hunted seals for thousands of years and represent a natural predator. However, due to the inclusion of all pinnipeds under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, we have removed ourselves as one of the seal's primary predators and in doing so have created an ecological imbalance.

It is time to recognize that we can no longer have single-species management policies that protect one species (seals) without considering the impact of that protection on other species (cod, other fishes, shore birds). It is time to create a more reasonable Marine Mammal Protection Act as it relates specifically to non-threatened species of seals. A goal of this revised plan would be to provide for better control of seal populations such that other environmental concerns, the survival of other marine and shore species, public health, human access to natural resources and economic concerns can be returned to a healthy balance.