Ed O’Brien is more than 100 per cent sure that he saw three seals in George’s Lake earlier this week.
An avid angler, who has fished the lake for salmon and trout for many years, the Corner Brook man is concerned about the impact the seals will have on stocks.
O’Brien and his girlfriend, Tracey Quilty, and her father, Dan Quilty, went out to the lake on Monday afternoon.
They travelled by quad on the rail bed in the area of Spruce Brook and O’Brien figures they were about three or four minutes into the ride when he saw two things swimming in the water. He thought it was beavers.
When he stopped the quad, the animals were about 150-200 feet away and he could see their heads sticking out of the water. It’s then he realized they were seals.
He said they had large heads and their heads disappeared in the water. He moved on down the rail bed to their fishing spot and this time he could see three seals.
Quilty said she saw the animals bobbing in the water and that when they got close O’Brien said it looked like a seal.
“And then Dad stopped right behind us and Dad said, ‘did you see the seals?’” she said.
“And then we saw one had something silver in its mouth and it was flipping back and forth.”
The couple figure it was a salmon.
O’Brien said he’s never heard tell of seals being in the lake before and people think he’s kidding when he tells them about the sighting.
But that doesn’t dissuade him.
“I know what I saw.”
He’s seen a lot of seals before and has caught salmon that have had seal bites on them.
He figures the seals came up through the river system via Harry’s River.
“This is what we get when we’ve got millions of seals up there that are fighting for food,” he said.
“This is going to be devastating for the salmon and the trout in George’s Lake. They’ll wipe out that lake in a summer.”
O’Brien contacted the Department of Fisheries and Oceans about the sighting but as of Thursday morning had not heard back from anyone with the department.
“If they don’t get on this really soon and act you’ll see the numbers decline a lot more than what they’re seeing now. Because, don’t forget, these salmon are going up there to spawn in the lake. So, they’re not going to get a chance to spawn if the seals are there.”
The Western Star also contacted DFO but had not received a response as of press time.
