Are harp seals hindering the recovery of cod and other fish stocks?
While overfishing by humans was undoubtedly a factor in the collapse of Northwest Atlantic cod stocks, a wide range of factors may be responsible for their slow recovery thus far. Whatever the cause or causes, the Canadian government is adamant that commercial sealing quotas are set solely based on how best to conserve seal stocks, and are not influenced by any attempt to help groundfish stocks recover. As for how many fish seals actually consume, there is also a lot of uncertainty, except for one thing: they consume a lot! Consider these statistics: 1 – Canada’s harp seal and grey seal populations alone consume 8.6 million tonnes of fish annually. By comparison Canada’s annual fishery (all coasts) yields less than 1 million tonnes. 2 – Consumption estimates indicate that harp and grey seals consume approximately 350,000 tonnes of cod per year. By comparison, Canada’s total annual Atlantic codfish quota for fishing is currently 22,973 tonnes. 3 – While the World Conservation Union’s Re
