Tag Archives: Tom Sewid
Are sea lions and seals eating too much of B.C.’s salmon? The answer may lead to a cull
An increasing number of the protected seals and sea lions (larger than seals, sea lions can walk) may be upsetting the balance of the British Columbia marine ecosystem. Now some First Nations are proposing a cull. “Environmentalists trying to stop traditional seal and sea lion hunts … are trying to starve out the Indians,” says Tom Sewid of the Kwakwak’wakw First Nation on northeastern Vancouver Island. “I won’t put up with it.” And as seals and sea lions have prospered, salmon have struggled. “The demise of the salmon runs in British Columbia is equivalent if not greater than the extinction of the great buffalo herds across the Great Plains” in the 1800s, says Sewid. > click to read < 09:01
Tom Sewid has applied for a commercial licence to hunt seals and sea lions!
While there is money to be made from selling seal meat and fur, Tom Sewid, a director for Pacific Balance Marine Management (PBMM), said the main reason for resurrecting the hunt in B.C. is to protect salmon stocks. “We’ve all identified that we’re losing our salmon due to overfishing, urban sprawl and many other compounding factors, but the biggest one being the overpopulation of seals and sea lions,”. For years, commercial fishermen have pointed to harbour seals as one of the culprits in declining salmon stocks in the Strait of Georgia and sea lions for declines in herring. A recent scientific study appears to back them up. >click to read< 10:28
First Nations seal hunters meet with Chinese officials to establish fur market
Tom Sewid of the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation and Haida hereditary Chief Roy Jones Jr. were brought in by their business partner, Calvin Kania of Fur Canada, for “bilateral trade discussions” with Tong and Chinese trade commissioner Shanjun Yu late last month, according to Kania. Sewid and Jones’s new firm, Pacific Balance Marine Management Corp., is applying to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to set up a commercial seal hunt in B.C. as a way to reduce the impact of marine mammals on troubled salmon runs. >click to read< 20:09
‘Get the balance back’: Amid seal and sea lion boom, group calls for hunt on B.C. coast
For the first time in decades, a small-scale seal hunt is taking place on Canada’s West Coast — all in the hopes that it leads to the establishment of a commercial industry to help control booming seal and sea lion populations and protect the region’s fish stocks.,,, The hunting of seals and sea lions — which are collectively known as pinnipeds — has been banned on the West Coast for more than 40 years. It’s one reason their numbers have exploded along the entire Pacific coastline of North America.,,, Fisheries scientist Carl Walters, a professor emeritus with UBC, believes culling the regions sea lions and seals could dramatically boost salmon stocks. He points to numerous studies showing how pinniped populations have been increasing, while salmon numbers have been plummeting. >click to read<17:14
