Beats me how the first European fishermen who made it to the Grand Banks sailed back home with tales of codfish so thick in the water that you could almost walk on them. I wonder why this was, for it is certain that there were just as many ---probably a helluva lot more---seals around at that time [nobody ever thought to cull them]. The depletion of cod stocks [and of beaver and of whales and of buffalo and of birdlife and of the native Human population]became evident following the return of the European fishermen, and of all the other exploiters of resource. Those who blame seals for the depletion of fish are either directly interested in the exploitation of the poor remnants of the fish resource, or those who have been hoodwinked by the propagandists of the same group. Seals and cod co-existed for probably hundreds of thousands of years before the excessive exploitation of the oceans by mankind destroyed the balance. Check facts before comming to judgement on seals. Anecdotal lore can be very wide of the mark. Extensive--and intensive--research has shown that salmon and cod play a surprisingly minor part in the seal diet.