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needs to give their head a g --001517588540326d9704aef6956d Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi, With all the scientific observations, and data that has been collected, on seals in recent years, by those who are both in favor of, and opposed to, a seal cull, surely somewhere there must be a detailed analysis of the contents of adult seals' stomachs? And surely there's someone on NatureNS who knows this info? For what it's worth, here's what seems to be a valid reference I found by googling -- The single biggest island-breeding colony is on Sable Island (85,000, increasing at almost 12% per annum). Other major sites in the western Atlantic are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (69,000). (and from Wikipedia ----- The grey seal feeds on a wide variety of fish<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish>, mostly benthic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benthic> or demersal<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demersal>species, taken at depths down to 70 m (230 ft) or more. Sand eels <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_eel> (*Ammodytes spp*) are important in its diet in many localities. Cod <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod> and other gadids <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadidae>, flatfish<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatfish>, herring <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herring> and skates<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skate>are also important locally. However, it is clear that the grey seal will eat whatever is available, including octopus<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus>and lobsters <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster>. The average daily food requirement is estimated to be 5 kg (11 lb), though the seal does not feed every day and it fasts during the breeding season. Doing the math, therefore, it would seem that the Sable Island population alone would eat up to 425,000 Kg of fish per annum - considerable competition for Homo sapiens. Richard On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 3:31 PM, James W. Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>wrote: > Jeannie, I stand to be corrected, but I think a very large proportion of > the "harvested" seals in recent years has been young pups only several weeks > old and a bit post-weaning, and therefore would have no solid food yet in > their guts. But if any cull that goes on consists of older seals that are > shot, then it might make sense to sample their stomachs for foods consumed. > > > Cheers from Jim in Wolfville. > > Begin forwarded message: > > *From: *jeannies@ns.sympatico.ca > *Date: *October 10, 2011 10:26:54 AM ADT > *To: *naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > *Cc: *Gary Myers <gemyers@eastlink.ca> > *Subject: **Re: [NatureNS] Seal Cull* > *Reply-To: *naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > > With all the seal slaughtering that's going on...did not ONE person think > to open one up and see what type of fish they're consuming??? > Jeannie Shermerhorn > > > > ---- Gary Myers <gemyers@eastlink.ca> wrote: > > The announcement that Fisheries and Oceans was proposing a 70,000 animal > cull as an experiment followed by a further 70,000 experimentation kill the > following year was made Sep 15 this year. Co-incidentally that date was > the 40th anniversary of the founding of Greenpeace and CBC carried the two > stories consecutively all day. My first reaction was to check to see if > that was international prank day or some such. Surely someone needs to > give their head a god shake. Gary Myers Morden NS > > > -- ################# Richard Stern, Port Williams, NS, Canada sternrichard@gmail.com ################### --001517588540326d9704aef6956d Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi,<br><br>With all the scientific observations, and data that has been col= lected, on seals in recent years, by those who are both in favor of, and op= posed to, a seal cull, surely somewhere there must be a detailed analysis o= f the contents of adult seals' stomachs? And surely there's someone= on NatureNS who knows this info?<br> For what it's worth, here's what seems to be a valid reference I fo= und by googling --<br><br>The single biggest island-breeding colony is on S= able Island (85,000,=20 increasing at almost 12% per annum). Other major sites in the western=20 Atlantic are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (69,000).=A0 (and from Wikipedia -= ---- The grey seal feeds on a wide variety of <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedi= a.org/wiki/Fish" title=3D"Fish">fish</a>, mostly <a href=3D"http://en.wikip= edia.org/wiki/Benthic" title=3D"Benthic" class=3D"mw-redirect">benthic</a> = or <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demersal" title=3D"Demersal" cla= ss=3D"mw-redirect">demersal</a> species, taken at depths down to 70=A0m (23= 0=A0ft) or more. <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_eel" title=3D= "Sand eel">Sand eels</a> (<i>Ammodytes spp</i>) are important in its diet i= n many localities. <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod" title=3D"Co= d">Cod</a> and other <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadidae" title= =3D"Gadidae">gadids</a>, <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatfish" = title=3D"Flatfish">flatfish</a>, <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He= rring" title=3D"Herring">herring</a><sup>=A0</sup><sup> </sup>and <a href= =3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skate" title=3D"Skate">skates</a> are also= important locally. However, it is clear that the grey seal will eat whatev= er is available, including <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus"= title=3D"Octopus">octopus</a> and <a href=3D"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/= Lobster" title=3D"Lobster">lobsters</a>. The average daily food requirement is estimated to be 5=A0kg (11=A0lb),=20 though the seal does not feed every day and it fasts during the breeding season.<br><br>Doing the math, therefore, it would seem that the Sable Isl= and population alone would eat up to 425,000 Kg of fish per annum - conside= rable competition for Homo sapiens.<br><br>Richard<br><br><br><br><div clas= s=3D"gmail_quote"> On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 3:31 PM, James W. Wolford <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a = href=3D"mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">jimwolford@eastlink.ca</a>></span= > wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;bo= rder-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div style=3D"word-wrap:break-word"> Jeannie, I stand to be corrected, but I think a very large proportion of th= e "harvested" seals in recent years has been youn