Thread: Seal Attack !

Run for the hills the seals have turned Rabid ! Last night we were at the Waimak mouth Kahawai fishing. The fishing action started an hour after high tide and then a seal, which had been taking the odd fish off lines on other days started coming out of the water and chasing people up the beach as they landed fish and even chased a bloke carrying a fish a good fourty metres
across dry sand, people running and scattering, it was pretty serious. Mrs had a fish taken off her line just as she had it ready to 'beach'. Told the young fella that seals love the taste of 'childrens meat' even more than Kahawai in the hope that he would keep a safe distance, but someone will get bitten.

Was it a seal or sea lion?

Was it a male or a female? I’ve never had an issue with females but have had numerous aggressive encounters with males while spear fishing around Banks Peninsula and Kaikoura. Not sure if it is territorial or whether they feel threatened, but it isn’t much fun having a high speed bull seal coming at you baring his teeth and growling while you’re in the water. Have had to give a few a jab with the end of my spear to discourage them.

if a male sealion is chasing you throw some tupperware at them...............they will stop chasing you because they like a good tight seal

He's back!

yep, couldnt log in for days as lost the password and the password reset didnt work until the 10th time i tried

Originally Posted by Sauer

Was it a male or a female? I’ve never had an issue with females but have had numerous aggressive encounters with males while spear fishing around Banks Peninsula and Kaikoura. Not sure if it is territorial or whether they feel threatened, but it isn’t much fun having a high speed bull seal coming at you baring his teeth and growling while you’re in the water. Have had to give a few a jab with the end of my spear to discourage them.

Had my first encounter with a couple sea lions in the water a month or two back while spearfishing at Jacks Bay (Catlins) made me a bit nervous especially as the viz wasn't very good and when they first showed up all I saw was a couple or larges shapes zoom past then spin around and come back towards me. More curious than anything but an animal that size with no fear of humans is intimidating to say the least!
Mate got buzzed by a leopard seal at Stewart Island last year and that was the end of the days activities, straight back on the boat, no sticking around to find out if it was friendly or not!

I have to say that the first few times a large fast moving object went past me in the murk when diving that “seal” wasn’t the first thing I thought of. Almost squirted a bit of ‘octopus ink’ myself!!

apparently you taste better with that on the outside

Originally Posted by Sauer

Was it a male or a female? I’ve never had an issue with females but have had numerous aggressive encounters with males while spear fishing around Banks Peninsula and Kaikoura. Not sure if it is territorial or whether they feel threatened, but it isn’t much fun having a high speed bull seal coming at you baring his teeth and growling while you’re in the water. Have had to give a few a jab with the end of my spear to discourage them.

Wasnt a super big model, but a big mature fur seal of probably 150 / 175kg at a guess. I hadnt considered its gender but it has a more male face than the 'finer' featured female seals that we see with pups. (So probably a youngish mature male Ryan S.)
I had a well weighted piece of driftwood ready to smack him in the face If he got too close to anyone. Probably should have just done it in the interest of public safety

Get Andrew Hore on the job.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Wasnt a super big model, but a big mature fur seal of probably 150 / 175kg at a guess. I hadnt considered its gender but it has a more male face than the 'finer' featured female seals that we see with pups. (So probably a youngish mature male Ryan S.)
I had a well weighted piece of driftwood ready to smack him in the face If he got too close to anyone. Probably should have just done it in the interest of public safety

try hard not to get bitten - seal bites can turn very very nasty and take months to heal

They can carry leptospirosis so being bitten wouldn’t be ideal.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Run for the hills the seals have turned Rabid ! Last night we were at the Waimak mouth Kahawai fishing. The fishing action started an hour after high tide and then a seal, which had been taking the odd fish off lines on other days started coming out of the water and chasing people up the beach as they landed fish and even chased a bloke carrying a fish a good fourty metres
across dry sand, people running and scattering, it was pretty serious. Mrs had a fish taken off her line just as she had it ready to 'beach'. Told the young fella that seals love the taste of 'childrens meat' even more than Kahawai in the hope that he would keep a safe distance, but someone will get bitten.

Give DOC a ring and let them know of the situation, then they can remove the problem animal , before someone else decides to

Originally Posted by stingray

Give DOC a ring and let them know of the situation, then they can remove the problem animal , before someone else decides to

They will probably have Ecan close the beach for the seals sake