112 replies to this topic

[todd]

The Marina has been selling bags of "seal food" for years. I'd say that amounts to sanctioning and encouraging the practice.

Just a name, I find the bags delicious.

[LJ]

How about the content of the bags?

[todd]

Could also be crab trap bait I'm not going to lie.

[VicHockeyFan]

Shouldn't it be illegal to feed the crabs, even if it's "bait"?

[todd]

Shouldn't it be illegal to feed the crabs, even if it's "bait"?

You throw them into boiling water they won't say a thing.

[VicHockeyFan]

You throw them into boiling water they won't say a thing.

 

That's what I do with seals I harvest (once they've been plumped up by food at Fisherman's Wharf), but I was talking about crabs.

[todd]

That's what I do with seals I harvest (once they've been plumped up by food at Fisherman's Wharf), but I was talking about crabs.

Right and I can't be blamed if me mr. butter tentacles while eating drops a few pieces.

Edited by todd, 13 April 2017 - 08:56 PM.

[lanforod]

That's what I do with seals I harvest (once they've been plumped up by food at Fisherman's Wharf), but I was talking about crabs.

Go see your doctor, stop talking about your problems on the internet.

[VicHockeyFan]

http://www.timescolo...ding-1.15086823

 

 

All this excitement delights tourists who crowd around the dock, snapping photos of the entertaining seals, with their big eyes and dappled silver and grey coats.

 

After learning of the reason for the ban, MacMullin said, “If it’s not good for the seals, it’s not good for the seals and we shouldn’t do it.”

 

Others continued to spend $5 to buy six herring from the Fish Store, steps from where seals hang out.

 

Seals are commonly found at marinas in B.C. They have learned that if they mooch around docks, seafood might fall into the water or get tossed overboard.

 

They might be cute, but they are equipped with a mouthful of teeth and powerful jaws. Front teeth are pointed and sharp, designed to grab and rip at food.

 

Many people throw fish in the water, but some want a closer experience. Al-Nashir Charania, the Harbour Authority’s environmental projects co-ordinator, has seen children hand-feed seals while parents take photographs.

 

He is not aware of anyone at Fisherman’s Wharf being injured by a seal. But the feeding alters seal behaviour. “We are habituating these animals to human hand-held feeding.”

 

The feeding ban at Fisherman’s Wharf is being coupled with an awareness campaign, and comes in advance of federal plans for legislation to outlaw the feeding of marine mammals.

 

For now, there’s no enforcement of the ban. The no-feeding signs are an “opportunity to engage with members of the public and the folks around here … To understand why it is not good to feed the wildlife,” Charania said.

 

There is nothing to indicate that stopping the feeding would harm the four or five seals at the dock, he said.

 

Those seals are among an estimated 105,000 that live along B.C.’s coast, according to a 2009 Department of Fisheries and Oceans report.

 

The Fish Store sells a “fair bit” of herring intended for the seals, said owner Peter Gregg.

 

“People have been coming here for generations to feed seals,” Gregg said. “It’s been going on for over 30 years.

 

“It goes on up and down the coast, for goodness sake. It’s everywhere.”

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.tinDj1mr.dpuf

[VicHockeyFan]

So I don't know, 104,995 of the 105,000 seals are not being hand-fed at FW.

[Rob Randall]

So I don't know, 104,995 of the 105,000 seals are not being hand-fed at FW.

I think that's the same percentage as 844 Johnson.

[VicHockeyFan]

There is concern Sammy the one-eyed seal needs hand feeding:

 

https://www.facebook...vesammytheseal/

 

Hey, the press release from the Harbour Authority says that the 4 or 5 seals there now will not be harmed by a stop in feeding.  So does that mean they have not really been habituated to it yet?  Since it's been going on for decades, through the life cycle of many seals, how can they say this is true?

[Mike K.]

A seal expert came on to CFAX today to say that seals use their whiskers for hunting, and that even blind seals can still successfully hunt.

Amazing.

So Sammy should he find once he's left to his own devices.

[VicHockeyFan]

A seal expert came on to CFAX today to say that seals use their whiskers for hunting, and that even blind seals can still successfully hunt.

Amazing.

So Sammy should he find once he's left to his own devices.

 

Well then surely if a blind seal can hunt, a habituated-to-hand-feeding one can also go hunt any time.  If he's theoretically cut off from easy food.  Although with decades of hand-feeding, that's unlikely.   So where is the harm?

[sdwright.vic]

I really don't know what the issue is... I have hand fed fish in an aquarium... as long as they are fed all is good. One happens to get a bit more hungry then what they are being fed (sorry vacations happen, and multi day feeders don't always works) they happen to still somehow remember how to eat a smaller fish. I really don't understand the need to stop this.

[todd]

Places that are already doing it are ethically grandfathered in. The only problem is when you stop. So better not stop.

[VicHockeyFan]

Places that are already doing it are ethically grandfathered in. The only problem is when you stop. So better not stop.

 

We have not stopped in 30 years.  I presume we will not.  So why not just let us carry on?

 

We have been feeding an awful lot of wildlife with our crap out the Clove Point outfall.  You now how many animals will die when that gets cut off?

[LJ]

Is it still OK to shoot the seals?

[todd]

Is it still OK to shoot the seals?

 

No.

[weirdie]

Girl dragged into the water by a seal in Richmond:

https://youtu.be/pMDtibc13fc