Changing Environments: Tracking the Scientific, Socio-political, Legal, and Ethical Currents of the Grey Seal-Cod Debate in Atlantic Canada

Gazit, Tsafrir; Lidgard, Damian C.; Sykes, Katie

doi:10.1080/13880292.2013.805070

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The success of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 as amended (MMPA) has created a new set of challenges for natural resource managers (Gazit et al, 2013;Roman et al, 2013;Ferretti et al, 2015;Marshall et al, 2015;Jackman et al, 2018;Cammen et al, 2019;Guerra, 2019). Since the implementation of the MMPA, the US Northwest Atlantic harbor and gray seal populations have been recovering from near extirpation status.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What bycatch tells us about the diet of harbor and gray seals and overlap with commercial fishermen

Lyssikatos,

Wenzel

2024

Front. Conserv. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Northwest Atlantic harbor (Phoca vitulina vitulina) and gray (Halichoerus grypus atlantica) seal populations are recovering from early to mid-20th century exploitation, increasing their biological interactions and bycatch in Northeastern US commercial fisheries. We evaluated the seals’ diet composition and compared their prey to commercial catches to assess trophic overlap and potential competition with commercial fisherman target catches. We obtained 148 harbor and 178 gray seal stomach samples from bycatch events that occurred between 2004 and 2018. We learned from the hard part remains that the majority of seals bycaught are young-of-the-year (≤12 months old) that consume a wide breadth of prey across three trophic groups. There was a general dichotomy in extrinsic factors associated with seal diet in which 45% trophic niche separation was explained by non-overlapping harbor and gray seal phenology and pup haul-out locations that are adjacent to active fishing areas. Prey size estimated from fish otoliths and squid beaks recovered from stomach contents showed that gray seals consumed larger prey than harbor seals and prey sizes from both seals showed limited overlap with prey sizes caught by commercial gillnet fishermen. The most important prey to both seals included large (>20 cm) and small (≤20 cm) silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis), (≤40 cm) red hake (Urophycis chuss), gulf stream flounder (Citharichthys arctifrons), medium (21–40 cm) white hake (Urophycis tenuis), and (<50 cm) Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Important prey to harbor seals that did not overlap with gray seals were Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), longfin (Doryteuthis pealeii), and shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus). They contrasted with prey important to gray seals that did not overlap with harbor seals: yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea), sand lance (Ammodytes spp.), Urophycis spp., and fourspot flounder (Hippoglossina oblonga). Despite the potential bias associated with opportunistic bycatch sampling, this study demonstrates the importance and value of utilizing carcasses retained from bycatch events, is complimentary to newer methodologies (i.e., DNA meta-barcoding), and fills data gaps in our understanding of the role recovering harbor and gray seal populations have on Northeastern US regional food webs.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What bycatch tells us about the diet of harbor and gray seals and overlap with commercial fishermen

Lyssikatos,

Wenzel

2024

Front. Conserv. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The grey seal-cod debate can be characterized by scientific ambiguity, with seemingly contradictory scientific evidence.. Some evidence supports the claim for the grey seal as the main cause of the lack of cod recovery, while other evidence suggests that grey seals have not contributed to the lack of recovery in a significant way (Gazit et al 2013b). The OTN, and especially the bio-probe program, were presented as probably the most advanced technology available, one that if it did not end the scientific debate, would at the very least clear most of it up.…”

Section: Box 1: a Case Study: Grey Seals And Codmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, how can new technologies, and the new types of data they produce, connect to traditional research methodologies? In the case of the grey seal -cod debate, the process is not only slow, but also has had a negative impact on the policy making process by practically neutralizing the scientific component through scientific ambiguity (Gazit et al 2013b). …”

Section: Box 1: a Case Study: Grey Seals And Codmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ocean tracking technologies: observing species at risk

Apostle

Gazit

2016

Maritime Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Ocean Tracking Network is a major global project to establish tracking of endangered fish and marine mammal species through acoustic telemetry. The project has only begun to generate the policy-related outcomes that may be utilized as benchmarks for evaluating the success of the project. We propose that projects like this one make technical advances before scientific ones, and that scientific advances may be quite long term. Further, the development of policy outcomes is shaped by the larger political economies in which the technologies are located; scientists are quite used to "flying under the radar", waiting for more propitious circumstances. There are serious questions regarding which actors are capable of making matters of fact issues of public debate.

show abstract

Un effondrement durable des morues au Canada

Ronsin¹,

Sanguinet

2022

rac

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changing Environments: Tracking the Scientific, Socio-political, Legal, and Ethical Currents of the Grey Seal-Cod Debate in Atlantic Canada

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

What bycatch tells us about the diet of harbor and gray seals and overlap with commercial fishermen

What bycatch tells us about the diet of harbor and gray seals and overlap with commercial fishermen

Ocean tracking technologies: observing species at risk

Un effondrement durable des morues au Canada

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About