The Pacific Balanced Pinniped Society is an advocacy group promoting increased seal hunting in BC waters as an ecosystem-based recovery measure for wild salmon. They and others believe that historically high numbers of seals have contributed to recent declines in salmon smolt-to-adult survival and abundance. Needless to say there are passionate and valid arguments on both sides, and this seems like an issue unlikely to leave the public debate any time soon. Some people believe that pre-Industrial historical baselines of salmon abundance likely reflect millennia of marine mammal hunting and ecosystem management by Indigenous British Columbians. Folks interested in a longer conversation on the subject can check out my interview with Mat Pereira on BCIT radio
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