It was bound to happen sooner or later. This week, the EU finally voted to ban the import of Canadian seal products. Canada is countering by filing a challenge with World Trade Organization claiming this ban is a unfair trade restrictions.
There’s probably no more controversial issue in Canada then the annual seal hunt (aka slaughter). Just about everyone has a strong opinion about the issue, either for or against. Just about everyone seems to want to make up their own “facts” about it as well depending on what side of the issue you fall on.
Here then are some hard facts:
1. The hunt opens around March in the Gulf areas around the Magdalen Islands and Prince Edward Island. The main hunt usually begins in April off the east coast of Newfoundland and is over pretty much by May.
2. In 2009, the allowable catches for harp seals is set at 280,000, 8,200 for hooded seals and 50,000 for grey seals. The total estimated population of the seal herd off Atlantic Canada including harp, hooded and grey seals is 5.6 million. This allowable quota is up slightly from 2008 and up sharply from 2000 when it was set at just 92,000.
3. All newborn baby harp seals have whitecoats until they are about 12 days old when they turn to grey. The furor over sealing came to a head when pictures of white coated seals were taken being clubbed to death and shown the worldwide over. The images were so inflammatory that in 1987, Canada banned all hunting of whitecoats and bluebacks (aka hooded seals).
Although whitecoats have been protected since 1987, some opponents to the seal hunt still use those pictures to promote their anti-seal hunt cause on websites and fundraising materials. As this may be a bit deceiving it technically, the fact is that even though a seal may have lost it’s white coat, it is still only a baby when it is clubbed. Semantics.
4. The economic benefit of the seal hunt to Canada seems to be an object of debate. The Canadian government claims that the “landed value” of seals exceeded $16.5 million in 2005. They claim this is of great benefit to the thousands of sealers who are unable to pursue other fishing options at this time of the year. According to reports, sealing income can be up to a 1/3 of a fisherman’s annual income.
5. According to data from the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) for 2007, the European Union accounts for about 15% of Canada’s seal exports. South Korea and Japan are the largest consumers of seal meat and South Korea, China and the US bought the most seal fat and oil. A total of $13 million worth of seal products were exported during this fiscal period. 80% of the seals skins were exported to Norway who are not technically a member of the EU but are bound to some extent to adapt much of the EU’s legislation.
6. The debate rages on between the DFO and the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) about whether the seal hunt is sustainable. With the best seal pelts currently garnering only about $15 each, way down from the 2006 price of $105 each, it would seem there isn’t a lot of money being made from this hunt. Costs incurred to conduct the hunt include patrolling, upgrading plants, promoting the hunt, developing new markets and supporting research to find new products. At the end of the day, the IFAW averts that the seal hunt is actually costing the Canadian government money. The DFO flatly denies that it subsidizes the hunt and argues that 5,000 to 6,000 people (about 1% of the NFLD population) derive some income from sealing. While this may seem a small number, there are many comparable industries, the DFO argues, that share this characteristic benefiting the smaller rural areas of the country. Examples given are the crop production and forest industry.
7. According to the IFAW, many seals are routinely skinned alive and left to suffer on the ice until clubbed later. It alleges that few sealers actually check to ensure that a seal is rendered unconscious before skinning. Other groups have made this accusation claiming that up to 45% of the seals are skinned alive. A 2002 Canadian Veterinary Journal disputes this claim stating that 98% of the hunted seals it examined were killed humanely. It does not stipulate however the total number of seals that were examined. If only 2o seals examined, this resulting number is rendered as useless information.
8. It has been stated that seals eat cod to the point of compromising the stock of cod available for humans and other wildlife. Both sides of the issue now agree that seals and cod can co-exist (as if Mother Nature could make a mistake!) and that this is not an issue of the seal hunt. Cod stocks are more in danger from human over fishing habits.
8. Stockwell Day, Trade Minister for Canada, says that the ban by the EU of importing and promotion of seal products could cost Canada $2.5 million dollars. Chump change on the whole scope of things.
My opinion:
It is my opinion that the seal hunt is cruel, inhumane, barbaric and completely unnecessary. If the cost/benefit analysis bears out that Canada is not making a lot of money from the seal hunt, and I believe it does, then set up a subsidy fund for those sealers affected by the ban to ensure they are not adversely affected.
Keep in the mind that although whitecoats are not allowed to be hunted, it is only 12 days after they’re born that they lose the whitecoats so baby seals are still being clubbed to death on the ice fields. They just happen to be over 12 days old.
Many people assert that the seal hunt is no more barbaric or inhumane then the treatment of food stock animals and I would not argue this point. That doesn’t make it right. It only give us all another issue to tackle once we’ve seen the last the of seal hunt. Other hunting methods are also tagged as being more cruel such as leg-hold traps and aerial shooting of wolves. Agreed again and these are also on my list of practices that must be stopped. It still doesn’t make it okay to club baby seals to death for their pelts.
I don’t believe sources like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as I know they are mostly sponsored by the hunting organizations and lobbyists. The Canadian Veterinary Association (CVA) has no credibility with me either until I see how much they are subsidized by the Canadian government. And of course the DFO is an arm of the Canadian government and are obligated to say whatever they’re told to say.
So in conclusion, I say “Way to go, EU!” Maybe we can finally put this issue to rest by eliminating it altogether.
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