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11/12/2020 24 hour corner
A cute and charming villain? Harbor seals reunite in Hokkaido’s “economic plague” disaster
“Your cute little one, our big problem.” Time enters winterJapanThe soybean area, the northernmost part of Hokkaido, has ushered in the season when harbor seals migrate and flock to the harbor to overwinter each year. At Tokukai Fishing Port in Wakkanai City, Soya Region, you can see harbor seals resting and rolling since October. Although harbor seals used to be a famous “super cute tourist attraction” in the local area, they are very important to local fishermen. In other words, it is a demonic marine mammal that severely destroys livelihoods. According to official information from Hokkaido, in the last year alone, economic losses caused by “dangerous beast” seals and other local economic losses exceeded 1.1 billion yen (about NT $ 320 million).
Since the middle of October each year, many round seals can be seen in the harbor in the Soya area of Hokkaido; These harbor seals will flock to the local fishing port to overwinter, rest, swim, and disappear near the harbor. The cozy and comfortable appearance has become a charming symbol of the seaport. The Wakkanai City Tourism Association, which belongs to the site, has also established the “Harbor Seal Observatory” for the public to observe nearby; November to March The peak period of seal infestation attracts many tourists who come from afar to see the harbor seals.
“Is it cute? We found it very annoying.” In contrast to the popularity of harbor seals with the general public, for local fishermen, harbor seals are pests that seriously damage their livelihoods. One of the reasons why common seals live in the harbor is the abundant source of food, that is, the fish caught by the fishermen. When local fishermen come to the harbor seals for the winter season, they often find that the fixed nets are damaged and all their catch enters the harbor seals, the losses are quite significant.
According to official Hokkaido data, the overall economic loss from the fishery in 2019 was 1,185 million yen. This estimate includes other wildlife such as harbor seals, sea lions, and sea lions. In other words, it is as troublesome as “evil beasts always attack”.
If we only count the calamities caused by the seals, there will be a loss of about 297 million yen. The areas that suffer the most are the Soybean area, where the fishing port is located, and Rebun Island, located west of the port.
Originally, after winter, the number of harbor seals in summer will be greatly reduced, but recent surveys have found that not only have the number of seals in winter increased significantly from more than 300 to more than 3,000 in the ten years of 2003 to 2013; individuals in summer The number also has an upward trend. The Hokkaido Environmental Review Committee believes that the increase in port seals is related to global warming, and there is a lack of drift ice that can move port seals, and some of them remain in places where they would overwinter and they would have enough food.
In order to eradicate the harmful animal problem of harbor seals, Hokkaido established the official “Seal Management Review Meeting” in 2013 (except for harbor seals, there are also harbor seals distributed in other areas like Cape Erimo, Hokkaido). In addition to the increase in the number of surveys In addition to the related loss and damage, human hunting is also used to suppress the increase in the seal population. And under these kinds of “harmful animal countermeasures,” the harbor seal observatory, which was mentioned in the previous article for sightseeing, has also been closed since 2015.
Is quantity control effective? Judging from the loss data, the economic damage of seals in 2015 exceeded 325 million yen. In recent years, although it has finally dropped below 300 million yen, it appears to have improved. However, the ups and downs continue to worry fishermen. According to statistics from Hokkaido, the number has dropped from 1,413 in 2015 to 872 in 2018, but the harbor seals will not only stay in the same place and move in the surrounding waters. Hunting operations remain difficult. Fight hard.
Although the problems caused by the seals make the fishermen miserable, the government is not trying to eliminate them completely, but based on the consideration of ecological balance, the number of seals can be controlled to some extent. The goal at this stage is to first reduce the number to less than 800; and a small part of the seals captured will be donated to the aquarium that needs them, depending on their health.
“Even before the development of Hokkaido, seals migrated and inhabited the vast coastline of Hokkaido. What we have to do is consider how to achieve human-seal symbiosis,” stated the Seal Management Review Committee.
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