Two years ago to the day I did a post about the herring fishery. If you are interested you can find it here. https://wordsfromanneli.com/2017/03/08/herring-time/
At that time a fisherman lost his life working in this dangerous job.
However, the fishery goes on. The pressure is on the fishermen to set their nets and catch what they can in the short time allowed.

As seiners from all along the coast of BC gather to await the herring opening, the wharf at Comox, on Vancouver Island, is congested at this time of year. You can see the seiners in the center of the photo above in the government fish wharf, and the toothpick-like masts of the sailboats on the far right, tucked away in their private marina.

How do these boats not get tangled!?

At one time the herring fishery was lucrative, but see, below, the problem facing the herring fishermen now.

These are a few of the sea lions left after a herring season three years ago. Since then the number of sea lions has exploded to the point where the fishermen lose nets repeatedly from dozens of these giants tearing through them to get at the herring in the seine nets.
Every animal needs to eat, but the fishermen are now finding it difficult to make a living when all they seem to do is feed sea lions and pay for very expensive nets. The staggering number of sea lions that have moved in to take up permanent residence on the coast of Vancouver Island has become an overwhelming problem for the fishermen.
Solutions are hard find, as the remedies are all controversial.
March 8, 2019 at 10:42 am
Thanks for that interesting insight, Anneli. 🙂
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March 8, 2019 at 10:44 am
You’re welcome, Pit. The sea lions have become a huge problem but there is a lot of controversy over what to do about it, and it seems that sometimes the least informed have the loudest voices.
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March 8, 2019 at 10:56 am
“Sometimes”? – Always, methinks.
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March 8, 2019 at 11:04 am
I agree.
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March 8, 2019 at 2:22 pm
🙂
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March 8, 2019 at 11:06 am
Is the Captain out there?
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March 8, 2019 at 11:14 am
No, he doesn’t do herring. Only salmon.
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March 8, 2019 at 12:02 pm
Difficult times for fishermen and sea lions.
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March 8, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Yes, for both.
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March 8, 2019 at 2:13 pm
I don’t know how those boats don’t get tangled too. I wonder if the warming oceans are driving sea lions north? I have no idea, but things like that worry me. Climate change is going to change everything.
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March 8, 2019 at 3:58 pm
I think they got a taste of plenty of food in a welcoming environment (maybe warmer water, I don’t know) and they are now staying all winter rather than bothering to go home to California. They used to only be up here at herring time and into the summer. Now they are year-round residents.
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March 8, 2019 at 5:35 pm
I know about the difficulties with the sea lions. There are no easy answers and the only one I’ve thought of is relocation, but I don’t know enough about this to know if that even makes sense.
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March 9, 2019 at 9:16 am
Trouble is that most of these sea lions have moved up here from farther down the coast. They have relocated themselves to a better place and I think it’s going to be a case of “the cat came back” if they are relocated to their California origins.
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March 8, 2019 at 5:40 pm
“Solutions are hard find, as the remedies are all controversial.” So true, Anneli. Thank you for bringing attention to this matter. I feel for the fishermen…it’s their livelihood.
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March 9, 2019 at 9:14 am
Yes, it’s their livelihood and what many people don’t think about is that if they want to eat fish, they have to support their fishermen. Just like farming – we need the grain, and of course the farmers shouldn’t work for nothing to provide it for us.
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March 8, 2019 at 6:13 pm
What a shame, and not an easy problem to fix. I feel for those fishermen.
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March 9, 2019 at 9:12 am
Almost impossible to fish once you get into a crowd of sea lions. Their numbers are huge and so is each animal.
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March 9, 2019 at 8:38 am
Very interesting! I feel sorry for both, fisherman and sea lions.
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March 9, 2019 at 9:11 am
Yes, it’s a real dilemma.
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March 9, 2019 at 11:31 pm
Yes, a real dilemma. But the photos with the boats are busy!
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March 10, 2019 at 12:16 am
Very busy!
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March 10, 2019 at 7:52 am
The image of the boats really does look like tangled toothpicks. What has caused the sea lion population to explode? This must be a very controversial issue. Lovely photos, Anneli.
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March 10, 2019 at 8:46 am
We used to have a small resident population of sea lions, but the California sea lions, who used to only visit for the summer feeding, have been staying and those who went back home in the fall have told all their friends and many have now taken up permanent residence here. The balance has been upset.
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March 10, 2019 at 8:51 am
Not a good thing to upset the balance.
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March 10, 2019 at 8:55 am
No, and very hard to fix.
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March 10, 2019 at 7:31 pm
Your posts offer such an education, Anneli. Thank you.
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March 10, 2019 at 8:13 pm
Thanks, Patricia. Just offering what’s happening here. Hope you’re doing fine.
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March 11, 2019 at 11:35 am
Seeing those sea lions gives me the willies. It’s never good to see the balance of nature upset. Seems they should be culled. Harsh, but true!
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March 11, 2019 at 11:58 am
I agree with you, Diane. It’s awful to even think it, as I don’t like to see any animals hurt, but it is getting out of control. Seems to happen in many aspects of nature now.
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March 13, 2019 at 5:38 pm
What a mess those seiners! Sad for the fishermen. It must break their hearts to see the sea lions in wait.
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March 13, 2019 at 7:39 pm
Very frustrating!
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March 24, 2019 at 8:56 am
That sounds like quite the dilemma!
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March 24, 2019 at 8:57 am
It is! I heard that many of the fishermen didn’t do very well this year. Partly the weather and partly those other reasons I mentioned.
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March 24, 2019 at 8:59 am
That’s too bad. I love sea lions.
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March 24, 2019 at 9:38 am
Yes, me too.
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March 24, 2019 at 10:24 am
😃❤
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