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Proceedings 2008/021

Proceedings of the National Workshop on the Impacts of Seals on Fish Populations in Eastern Canada (Part 1); 12-16 November 2007

W.D. Bowen (Chair), M.O. Hammill, M. Koen-Alonso, G. Stenson, D.P. Swain, and K. Trzcinski

Summary

A five-day day meeting was held in November, 2007 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, during which some 31 presentations were given on topics related to the potential impacts of seals on fish stocks in eastern Canada and elsewhere. Seals are hypothesized to have 5 kinds of negative effects on prey populations: 1) predation, 2) competition, 3) transmission of parasites causing increased mortality of fishes, 4) disruption of spawning causing reduced reproductive success, and 5) other indirect effects on fish behaviour caused by risk of seal predation. The meeting was attended by 30 invited participants from Canada, Norway, United States of America, and Scotland. A small number of observers from the fishing industry, graduate students from Dalhousie University, and interested scientists from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography also attended parts of the meeting. The principle objective of this workshop, the first of 2, was to review what is known, identify gaps in our understanding, and determine what new analyses could be completed over the next 12 month period to better understand the impacts of seals on fish stocks in eastern Canada. The work plan, both for the short-term, and the longer-term, were identified and are reported under Research Needs section of this report. The second and final workshop is tentatively planned for November 2008.

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