Seals freind or foe

[darlick]

I have been fishing thirty five years out of Robin Hoods Bay and we have always had a handfull of seals,but over the past few years the handfull has turned into at least seventy a freind and i counted fifty laid on the rocks on south cheek at the same time there was heads popped up all around us.nice to see all that wild life and there must be plenty of food for them.But are they becoming a problem i do know that they have been takeing fish off shore anglers lines and that it is a wast of time putting in a gill net because they eat every fish and rip the net to bits,A cousin of mine thought he had the fish of a lifetime one dark night untill he put his headlight on and saw a rather large pair of eyes looking back at him through the surff {lol} he managed to land it 6 O hook in its top lip led it up the beach like a bull it was not happy he managed to cut the hook off as close as he could he ran back while the seal bobbed back to the sea.Thoughts and experiances please.

[Steve Coppolo]

It's nature mate. The sea is their natural environment and fish is their staple diet. They have more right to it than we do. In fact I'm surprised there are still seals around in any numbers given what a complete **** up we've made of their environment.

[Snatcher]

They can be a bugger at times I do a lot of popping for bass on the Mull of Galloway and find that on most sessions a seal will turn up. My advice is to cast at them. I am a fair chucker and after two or three close calls and the odd "bounce off" they do get the message and scarper

 

Pal of mine Willie who is a salmon fisherman tends to go for a 303 on these occasions

[darlick]

It's nature mate. The sea is their natural environment and fish is their staple diet. They have more right to it than we do. In fact I'm surprised there are still seals around in any numbers given what a complete **** up we've made of their environment.

yes i know that steve they have been here longer than us and have probably more right then us but there must be a reason why there are so many appearing all of a sudden.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

yes i know that steve they have been here longer than us and have probably more right then us but there must be a reason why there are so many appearing all of a sudden.

 

SEX

[darlick]

They can be a bugger at times I do a lot of popping for bass on the Mull of Galloway and find that on most sessions a seal will turn up. My advice is to cast at them. I am a fair chucker and after two or three close calls and the odd "bounce off" they do get the message and scarper

 

Pal of mine Willie who is a salmon fisherman tends to go for a 303 on these occasions

was he off whitby on saturday heard a large bang close to a salmon boat

[darlick]

SEX

there is plenty of that going on pups all over the place.

[glennk]

Hi Darlik,

 

Funney you mention south cheek. My only pic of a seal is from there.

 

 

To date Ive never had one take a cod off me but they have taken mackerel in the past. The seal I watched was so clever he never ate any mackerel untill the shoal had passed. The seal spent its time taking mackerel of anglers, storing them on the ledge of the west pier then swimming back out and getting another off an angler. I saw him get 9 or 10. Then when the shoal went it ate them. You would have to see it to believe it.

 

As a shore angler I dont see them as a big problem, Lads in our club fish south cheeks area and do well despite the seals. Biggest fish I know of last year a 19 pounder in the cloughton festive sweepstake came from that area. If they are taking fish from your nets and lines I fully understand why you see them as a problem. Whay are they increasing ? who knows. Are the overall north sea numbers on the increase or did they just move to our area for a reason ? Perhaps the fishing got so bad in the south they moved to where there are a few fish left.

Edited August 27, 2006 by glennk

[Leon Roskilly]

yes i know that steve they have been here longer than us and have probably more right then us but there must be a reason why there are so many appearing all of a sudden.

 

 

Seals have to compete with other predators for food.

 

Remove the large finned predators, leaving hordes of mainly undersized fish, and the seal numbers are bound to increase.

 

Is culling them the answer?

 

Well it wasn't so long ago that thousands and thousands of them died due to a distemper like virus, but because there is plenty of small stuff for them to eat, and few large predators left to compete with them, their numbers bounce back strongly.

 

So, it's unlikely that a few blokes with rifles are going to make much difference to their numbers.

 

Restore, the big cod and bass etc, get the ecology back into balance, and you might stand a chance.

 

 

But are there as many now?

 

 

Apparently not in Shetland!

 

see: http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.p...ooting_ban.html

[darlick]

Hi Darlik,

 

Funney you mention south cheek. My only pic of a seal is from there.

 

 

To date Ive never had one take a cod off me but they have taken mackerel in the past. The seal I watched was so clever he never ate any mackerel untill the shoal had passed. The seal spent its time taking mackerel of anglers, storing them on the ledge of the west pier then swimming back out and getting another off an angler. I saw him get 9 or 10. Then when the shoal went it ate them. You would have to see it to believe it.

 

As a shore angler I dont see them as a big problem, Lads in our club fish south cheeks area and do well despite the seals. Biggest fish I know of last year a 19 pounder in the cloughton festive sweepstake came from that area. If they are taking fish from your nets and lines I fully understand why you see them as a problem. Whay are they increasing ? who knows. Are the overall north sea numbers on the increase or did they just move to our area for a reason ? Perhaps the fishing got so bad in the south they moved to where there are a few fish left.

Good time to go down there now with camera Glen droped father inlaw of there the other day to pick up a pot ender for Ivor and he just walked straight through them they hardly moved.i talked to a couple of lads one night and and they had had problems with them takeing fish off . not bothering me much at moment they dont seem to bother sole nets but they have been takeing bait out of the pots .