Dr. Walters, I came across a report from a technical workshop at UBC in May 2019. I imagine this was something you were involved in given your expertise. The summary of the workshop—the conclusions they reached in looking into this issue of pinnipeds and their impact on fish populations—was that the data are really insufficient.
We need better census data on the number of pinnipeds out there. We need better pinniped diet data. We need to know more about the potential impact of pinnipeds on salmon and about the fact that it depends on the proportion of seals and sea lions that are salmon specialists, something we're not terribly knowledgeable about. We need to do more to test the alternative hypothesis, which is that bottom-up effects of food supply and food web competition are primarily responsible for poor juvenile survival.
I'm certain that you're familiar with these conclusions from this workshop. What do you make of them and the direction they seem to be pointing in?