Canadian seal hunt suffers European pressure

by Kaitlin | January 11, 2008 at 02:10 pm | 766 views | 7 comments

The oft-criticized Canadian seal hunt faced another blow this week when the national Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation acknowledged that the hunt is threatened by pressure from European animal rights groups.

Loyola Sullivan, who was appointed Ambassador last year, has been criticized for this statement by the Newfoundland provincial Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout. Rideout called the statement "unnecessarily negative," stressing that the issue is far from resolved, and that his government's defense of the hunt has recently gained ground.

“We were astounded and surprised at the view taken by the Canadian ambassador for fisheries conservation,” Mr. Rideout said Friday in a statement.

“It is never too late and this is quite a defeatist attitude for an ambassador to take when the issue is still very much ongoing.”

Mr. Sullivan, who attended a gathering of about 100 sealers Tuesday, told reporters that it is difficult to overcome the anti-sealing lobby now because their message has acquired a strong foothold in Europe.

According to Government of Canada websites, Sullivan's capacity as Ambassador means he is responsible for

making sure the world is clear about Canada's priorities for global fisheries. These include sustainable resource use, and the conservation and rebuilding of global fish stocks.

Sullivan has had a long career in Newfoundland provincial politics; he also at one time was the owner and operator of two fish processing operations in the province.

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LotusFlower

at 18:02 on January 11th, 2008

good stuff:

Kaitlin, I like this story. It's good stuff. Good research - I like the personalisation of the story with your interweaved commentary - thanks.

SOLARLIFE

at 06:00 on January 12th, 2008

good stuff:

Kaitlin, important awareness article

Canada is late in take off for protection
of Wild life
anyway I am surprised that
this barbaric slaughtering for a handfull of $
is not stopped by the Canadian public will ?
Why no action ? Europeans protect the place
where they want to live in the future, this is
called "Man and his home planet"
Invite you all to join now
Get some proposals published
thanks for taking care of planet

Barry Artiste

at 01:14 on January 14th, 2008

good stuff:

Kaitlin, excellent story. Though seal hunting is a livlihood for many Newfoundlanders, the other aspect of the hunt is to control seals who indiscriminately take a single bite out of a Cod and killing it,(a cod may carry 50,000 eggs that will never see life) thus contributing to the decline of of the cod stocks come fishing season. Again, two sides to a single story (seal Hunt) no one ever thinks about. Culling the seals save Cod, culling seals provides a living to a centuries old tradition, and cod fishing provides a livlihood to a dying industry. Without both, oil exploration is a new lifeline to Newfoundlanders who would rather be fishing, because Newfoundlanders know oil derricks and the resulting pollution and activity may result in the elimination of both species one day.

Tracy2

at 01:06 on January 18th, 2008

Cod actually composes only a small amount of the harp seals' diet. The cod industry in Canada/Newfoundland crashed from overfishing, a fact that the Canadian Dept. of Fisheries now finally admits on its own website. As far as tradition goes, seals were once taken for use by the indigenous people of the area. And they only killed what they needed to survive, not the 250,000 baby seals that are butchered now. Unfortunately those people were pretty much wiped out by the settling Europeans. At least when the original inhabitants killed the seals, they used all of it. Today's seal clubbers skin them alive half the time and send the pelts so someone in Russia can satisfy their vanity with a coat. Did you know that there is a company in Germany who was willing to pay the seal killers more money than they make clubbing seals to obtain their hair by a non-lethal method (BRUSHING) but the Canadian government said no? Did you know that most of the pups from the last couple of years drowned due to poor sea ice and the rest were killed anyway?

The people who live in these areas could absolutely rake in the money by giving eco-tours - letting people see these beautiful animals in their own environment. What is happening now is a tragedy and an affront to nature. There is no place for this brutal mammalian torture/slaughter in the year 2008.

I BEG EVERYONE READING THIS - go to www.harpseals.org and get the facts for yourselves. Then do something to help these animals. Boycott Canadian seafood, write to your representatives, participate in the International Day of Action...do something before another innocent species goes extinct due to the arrogance and ignorance of humans!

Barry Artiste

at 18:13 on January 18th, 2008

Well your comments certainly makes me feel all warm and toasty. Here is the facts, if you say 250,000 seals are killed every year, I counter with that is AT A MINIMIUM of 250,000 COD of for sake of argument 100,000 are egg laying females carrying 50,000 eggs. Here is a FACT Seals do not devour COD , Seals take a sizeable and FATAL Bite out of an Codfish which then floats to the bottom of the ocean to it's death.

You see Tracy, Newfies, much like the First Nations used to catch Cod as part of their livlihood and part for food.

Your reference for everyone in the World to Boycott Canadian Seafood, certainly shows us your Eco Sensibility "most likely you are an ill informed teen" as well in all things misinformation in the ECO World. Tracy2, If you wish to find out for yourself, do the research or read my past Opinion columns, there you will find very little Canadian Seafood if any is caught in Canada, or North America. Why? Well partly due to Seals indiscriminatley killing seals one bite at a time, but actually the biggest threat to Cod is there is cheaper seafood found elsewhere such as CHINA. Canadian Fisherman on the East Coast haven't fished for decades, one of the major Buyers HIGHLINER gets the bulk of their Fish in China and Vietnam which they process in Canada and sell to North American consumer who mistakenly think they are getting a Canadian product.

There ya go, now you know something ,you should have researched in the first place.

MichM.

at 22:31 on January 30th, 2008

I agree with your comments, Tracey2. Another thing that goes conveniently unmentioned by supporters of the baby seal slaughter is that killing large numbers of seals actually contributes to the demise of cod-stocks, since harp seals prey on several species of cod-predators. Harp seals help keep the ecosystem and cod populations healthy by keeping these predator species in check. (As you said, cod represents barely a fraction of the harp seals' diet.) In fact, even the most ardent "sealhunt" supporters (of which there are very few) have ceased to blame seals (at least publicly) for the depletion of the cod fishery as this has been so widely scientifically discounted.

Barry Artiste

at 03:08 on January 31st, 2008

The cods main predators are Seals!! Read a Book. I work in the environment industry, having witnessed seals corner a BC salmon near a dock and take a single bite out of it. Thank God for Orcas,

Newfoundlanders by an large are small boat fisherman, not like European fishing liners the size of a friggin tankers who rape the seas of fish regarless of species off the coast of Newfoundland. That is the problem of overfishing. Newfs kill Seals to control the population, they need to make a living as they did for hundreds of years, their families have to eat, since welfare is not an option they want. MP Tobin over two decades ago had to send Navy warships to stop foreign fishing vessels from encroaching our seas,

Overfishing in part is true, but while newfoundlanders have not fished in over a decade other countries, Portugal and other countries continue to fish cod offshore of newfoundland, taking immature cod etc. Iceland had this problem with other countries overfishing their terroritories until they took action using warships and media to turn away fishing boats, Iceland today has a healthy fishing population and economy, no depleted stocks. Ottawa on the other hand legislated, mandated and pretty much screwed Newfoundlanders by prevernting them from ensuring fishing stocks remained viable. Newfies would not overfish, as this is their livlihood . Reading off Government websites on Cod Stocks for Info is one sure way ingest verbal diaherra from a government. Newfs have lived and fished there for 500 years, so I would surmise they know what they speak of, when the Rodents of the Sea indiscriminately kill Cod laden with thousands and thousands of eggs, something has to be done to cull the seal herd. True not pretty, but then neither is a dead community.

Again, I refer you to read a book, do more research and never rely on Government websites who most bureaucrats likely never fished for their livlihood.