Good, because I just found the report from your department. It's called, Grey seals and cod, and it says
While much research remains to be done, the lack of cod recovery in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence appears to be due to high mortality among larger cod. Predation by grey seals make account for up to 50 percent of this natural mortality, making them a major factor limiting the recovery of this cod stock.
I'm very well aware of different regions, and things happen in different places, but I think that perhaps you're being overly cautious in terms of the effect of seals on cod. I would hope that political correctness doesn't play any role in the conclusions of the work that the department is doing.
It is possible that seals, in terms of northern cod, could be a significant factor. When a species is driven down to such a level, even if the number of prey species taken is the same but they're a much higher percentage of the total stock, obviously the effect of predation can be a dampening factor on any recovery.
Is that a fair comment?