For Seals A sea change
In Japan, during the winter on the northern coastline the sea ice freezes, this is called The La Pérouse Strait, a 26-mile wide-body dividing Japan's northern islands of Hokkaido and Russias Sakhalin peninsula. This straight is no longer icebound during this year's winter causing the spotted seals to flood into the straight from the Sea of Okhotsk and abandon their traditional feeding habits. The straight no longer icebound admits rich fishing grounds of the Sea of Japan along Hokkaido's western coast. They feast on salmon and octopus in the fixed nets that are placed along the coast. This causes the seals to come earlier and leave later each year. Many of the seals can be observed in droves in a region that they weren't found there before. Many of the seals need the ice to give birth with the ice melting and global warming continuing to get more detrimental the seals might face a huge crisis.
In my opinion, this is very bad news since many of the seals are getting caught in the nets of the fishermen. This is a big problem due to that many of the seals that are caught have to be put into a rehabilitation center to get better and eventually be released into the wild. Another problem is that due to global warming causing problems during the winter with ice and spring when they go to feed, also when they go to give birth and find a small home or a place to rest they don't have enough area and this cause them to move out of their area and move to new places that they never been there before.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/02/02/receding-sea-ice-off-northern-japan-proves-blessing-potential-curse-seals/?arc404=true
In my opinion, this is very bad news since many of the seals are getting caught in the nets of the fishermen. This is a big problem due to that many of the seals that are caught have to be put into a rehabilitation center to get better and eventually be released into the wild. Another problem is that due to global warming causing problems during the winter with ice and spring when they go to feed, also when they go to give birth and find a small home or a place to rest they don't have enough area and this cause them to move out of their area and move to new places that they never been there before.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/02/02/receding-sea-ice-off-northern-japan-proves-blessing-potential-curse-seals/?arc404=true
It sounds like there needs to be reforms on the fishing seasons, and also the forms of fishing. If this fishing is being so destructive, they should change the seasons to fit around the birthing patterns of the seals. I believe there could be a reform to fix some of these problems, but it is certainly a problem that need to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteIf the fishing season is interfering with the seals' natural hunting season in that area, then it should be up to the Japanese to alter their fishing season to avoid any interference between the two seasons. In doing so, the fishermen will benefit from less competition as well as the seals benefiting from less danger of getting caught in nets.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese should change their fishing season to help the seals be able to naturally hunt and give birth without any trouble or much interference. The Japanese should also consider doing an annual clean up or see if they can find any nets and other trash to make the environment for the seals less dangerous. It's important to foster a healthy relationship with the seals during this time so that they can give birth which helps their population increase/stabilize.
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