I grew up on the Cape and we swam off (what used to be) North Beach in Chatham, Nauset, Truro and Welfleet all summer, every summer. We never saw a seal. Ever. Hence, we never saw a shark.
Admittedly- this was in the previous century;)
My friends that still live there pretty much avoid swimming in those places now. They swim off the bay beaches.
I received a call from Mike Pierdinock who is on several fishing panels and very knowledgeable on fisheries and fisheries management. Especially here in Mass.
He told me on Cape Cod the seal population in the year 2,000 was 1500 seals. Drone surveys show that has exploded to 70,000 seals (seventy thousand) in 2018,on Cape Cod. 30,000 of those seals are on Muskeegut Island off Nantucket
The Feds attitude is nothing will be done about the seals until they reach numbers from Maine to Florida that were the same when the Pilgrims arrived. So there will be no relief from the Feds who have seals protected.
The seal excrement has affected cod with worms and is affecting haddock. Not to mention the amount of fin fish eaten by the seals.
What might change some minds is shellfish beds have been affected by bird flu from seal defecation.
No question our ecosystem in Mass. is out of balance with the seal population exploding. - Tom