"Before the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed 40 years ago, early New Englanders had nearly hunted seals to death. They wanted them for their furs and to keep them from eating cod. Massachusetts even paid bounties on seals: $5 per nose. The act has helped gray seals and harbor seals recolonize New England waters, but fishermen off the coast of Cape Cod say they have become a nuisance."

"A busy fishing harbor like the one in Chatham, Mass., is a swell place for the seals. Fisherman Sam Fuller says the lazy pinnipeds have learned to follow his boat like a chuck wagon, waiting for the crews to pull in nets full of fish."

Curt Nickisch reports for WBUR via NPR's All Things Considered August 29, 2012. [2]