Just a few decades after gray seals were basically all but wiped out in New England waters, the population has rebounded so much that some residents are calling for a controlled hunt.
The gray seal population was decimated sometime in the mid-20th century due to hunting. Massachusetts keep a seal bounty on the books until the 1960s, according to the Associated Press.
Scientists believe conservation efforts, migration from Canada, and an abundance of food have all helped revive the population.
Environmentalists are happy about the resurgence, saying the gray seal boost is good for biodiversity and help seal watching tours in New England.
"Once the word spread out, the word spread quick," Lincoln said, according to the Associated Press. "The cuteness of them is what draws everybody."
Seal sightings have skyrocketed from about 50 per trip in 1989 to about 2,000 per trip now, according to Keith Lincoln, who operates a seal watch ferry to Monomoy Island off Cape Cod.
Beachgoers don't exactly feel the same way however, as the 600-plus-pound seals take over large stretches of the shore, attracting sharks, which feed on seals.
"Culls of gray seals have not been shown to increase fish populations. It's not that simple," Brian Sharp, manager of the marine mammal rescue for the Cape Cod-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, said, according to the Associated Press. "What we're seeing is a normal growth curve of seals repopulating an area."
Gray seals can grow up to 10 feet long and inhabit both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. Occasionally they are found in the same areas as the smaller harbor seals.
Seals occasionally get tangled up in fishing gear, and six of them were illegally shot and killed on the southern ridge of Cape Cod in 2011, according to Sharp.
"Seals are just another large marine predator, and they are part of the diversity of the marine environment," said Gordon Waring, fishery research biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, according to the Associated Press. "And they are able to thrive and recover."
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