Seal hunt draws protests

The hunt, said to be the biggest in 50 years, has been set a quota of 319,500 and is part of a multi-year (2003-2005) management plan for the Atlantic Seal Hunt that allows the harvest of 975,000 seals between 2003-2005. With almost 15,000 licenses and more than 70 vessels involved, the process has sparked a considerable reaction among eco groups.

They claim that killing seals using a club or gun is cruel, and allege that 42% of the animals are skinned alive. The Canadian government says hunters have to be trained and licensed and that an independent study in 2002 showed that 98% of the seals were killed in a humane way and says these groups are misleading the public by using images of seals that appear to be alive when skinned but are actually dead.

“Skinning seals alive does not even make ‘economic sense’ because it negatively affects the value of the pelt,” said Phil Jenkins of the department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Radio Netherlands reported Dutch MPs want seal products banned in the EU. Norway is the largest pelt importer, among countries including Denmark, Poland and China.The Canadian government denies suggestions that the seal hunting is to protect cod stocks. “We manage the seal population for itself. This is not an attempt to control the population of fish. The seals’ diet is three per cent of the cod stocks but they (seals) also eat predators of cod,” Jenkins said. The government says sealing is a legitimate and sustainable activity based on sound conservation principles. There are said to be five million seals in Canada now, three times the amount registered in 1970. It is estimated that seal hunting contributes between CAD16 million to CAD29m to the Canadian economy, providing extra income for some fishing communities and subsistence food for first- nation groups.

Will the hunt affect public perceptions of the wider fishing industry, in terms of welfare and sustainability? That remains to be seen.