Re: [Paddlewise] Seals & fish

Just back from a fabulous 6 day tour in the Broughton Archipelago (British
Columbia), so catching up on stuff...

We also noticed seals doing this on several occasions when paddling around
Galiano Island (Gulf Islands, BC). We asked a few of the locals...it seemed
common enough, but no clear explanation. Maybe they were trying to imitate
orcas ;-)



<snip>
>    Reading Dave Kruger's report of his two trips to the Queen Charlottes
>got me thinking about the trip my sister and I took there in late June of
>1996 and the odd fishing behavior of the seals that we noted there.
>
>    We were camping south of Hot Springs Island when we started noticing
>occasional sharp reports coming from the water, sometimes from the south,
>sometimes from the west. Looking around, I could see no boats, no nothing,
>in fact. Suddenly, whap! off to the left but when I looked in that direction
>there was nothing to be seen. After watchfully waiting a bit longer, I saw a
>seal porpoise up, dive and whap!, his tail hit the water with a great smack.
>
>    We were to see this over and over again, both there, from our camp by
>Hot Springs, Marcos Island, and other spots. I concluded that this was a
>fishing anomaly of QC seals, one that I had never seen or heard before in
>either British Columbia (Johnstone Strait, Broken Group) or USA
>(California). 
>
>    Did you notice anything like this when you were there Dave? Has anyone
>in this ng come across this behavior, either in the QC or elsewhere?
>

Sam and Ann Isaacs
Coast to Coast Canadian Products
phone/fax: 604-271-3228
e-mail: saisaacs_at_netcom.ca
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