Two seals who roam the canals of Den Helder are eating all the fish and should be moved to the open sea, a local anglers’ club has said.

The club organises several angling competitions a year and restocks the inland waters with fish to the tune of up to €4,000 each year. But before the anglers can get at them, the seals have had their fill, the anglers complain.

“We have had this problem for years. The seals are scoffing our fish and there is nothing left for the children who enter the competitions,” Hans Koopman of anglers club HSV told local broadcaster NH.

The club has asked the Pieterburen seal rescue centre to move the seals but it said it will only do so if the council asks. That hasn’t happened yet.

The seal problem multiplied when a pregnant seal, which entered the Den Helder waters via a lock five years ago, had a pup. Since then the two have made Den Helder their home.

The animals eat some four kilos of fish a day but also take little nibbles, another habit the anglers are annoyed about. “They take a bite and go on to the next fish,” they told the broadcaster.

It’s not unusual for seals to take to canals and other inland waters. “As long as they are healthy, we see no reason to move them,” a spokesperson for the Pieterburen rescue centre said.