I think it's clear that the populations have expanded—exploded, nearly—since the early 1980s when there was a conservation concern related to seals and seal populations. In the United States right now for the grey seal, the word out of the fishing sector in the United States is that the Canadian seals are coming down and eating the American fish. They are also providing an additional challenge to the recreational fishing sector, to the salmonid species, striped bass, and others, where conservation of those stocks now is clear. Striped bass is up for review. Whether or not it will be listed as a threatened species has yet to be decided.
The cod fishery has been closed in the Gulf of Maine, so it is believed by both American and Canadian counterparts that the grey seal is playing a significant role in this reduction of fisheries viability. The same is being seen on the east coast of Canada, where predation on shrimp, crab, cod, haddock, hake, and other groundfish species is more than evident.
We prefer to look at total biometric removals by grey seals or harp seals, rather than individuals, species by species, because we think that's where the answer will lie: in maintaining a complete balance in the ecosystem rather than in looking simply at the interactions of one species with another.
I don't know if I've missed anything in my response. Greg?