70,000 grey seals are still being blamed by the Canadian Government for the fail of the cod fish’s recovery in the Atlantic Ocean. However, Dr. Tony Charles, a specialist of the local environment, says that the shift to more sustainable fishing and the improvement of the marine ecosystem can be as important for the recovery, as the decrease of cod fish 25 years ago. He also says that the impact of the culling of seals can be unpredictable, because the marine ecosystem is complicated.

In the report published in 2014, the Department of Fishery and Ocean Canada has written that the number of grey seals in the Atlantic Ocean “must be immediately reduced.” They plan to do this by authorizing more hunting licenses for seal hunters. However, the statistics released this March have revealed that only 1,145 grey seals were hunted last year in Canada.