The seals were floating peacefully off Fisherman’s Wharf on Thursday afternoon — until nine-year-old Jacob Fonseca approached with fish and the quiet was shattered by shrieking seagulls.
“It’s exciting,” said Jacob, who was on a March break visit from Vancouver. “I think it’s always cool to see wildlife in action.”
The fun could soon be over if proposed changes to the marine mammal regulations of the Fisheries Act are introduced into law. The changes, the result of Canada-wide consultations by Fisheries and Oceans that began in 2003, state that no one should feed, touch, swim or interact with marine mammals.
For more than a decade, Fisheries officers have tried to dissuade the public from feeding seals at local tourist spots such as the Oak Bay Marina and Fisherman’s Wharf.
Seals should be foraging for their own food, said communications officer Lara Sloan. Feeding seals makes them dependent and can make them more aggressive. In 2009, a five-year-old girl was snatched off a dock and dragged underwater by a seal at a West Vancouver marina, and there have been other incidents where people were bitten.
The existing legislation states that no one shall disturb marine animals, Sloan said.
“As it stands, it could be considered a disturbance to feed a marine mammal. But for a Fisheries officer to charge someone, the department would have to prove that it’s a disturbance,” she said.
“It could take years of scientific study and a lot of observation, and sometimes it’s really difficult work to do.
“But we do know it impacts the seal’s life processes. An overweight seal has a lot of trouble hauling out of the water if it’s trying to get away from a predator.”
The marine mammal amendments, which will clarify the issue for the courts, were published in the Canada Gazette at the end of December and are awaiting final approval, Sloan said.
“It’s almost there.”
Once the amendments become law, Fisheries officers will enforce the no-feeding regulation, Sloan said.
“We still say people shouldn’t feed the seals,” she said.
“On spring breaks, feeding the seals is a really popular thing to do and people like to do it. But it’s not good for the seals. And it can pose a danger to people and children.”
Harbour seals are listed as species of special concern under the Species At Risk Act.
