I know I’m again making myself a target (this time for all those tree hugging zealots out there), but I find myself particularly perturbed – Hell, I’m pissed! – about this whole situation with the European Union actually putting forth the ban on harp seal products coming from Canada.

Yeah, like their own member countries to the North don’t hunt seals?

Or worse!

Roughly handled, and incompetently stunned, terrified animals may awaken several times before they are slaughtered. Some have their throats slit fully conscious. Europe’s industrial farms dispatch 1 million sheep, cattle and pigs every day. You cannot cater to the welfare of a large animal like a pig when the line must kill five in a minute.

If the European Parliament were really interested in animal welfare, then it might look rather more closely at the farming industry that the European Union so lavishly rewards with subsidies. But it has more pressing business. On May 5th Members of the European Parliament, suddenly disgusted by the cruelty of people far away hunting seals, voted to endorse a ban on the trade of seal products, most of which come from Canada. Their hypocritical recommendation, which still has to be approved by the European Commission and Council, isn’t even much good for the seals.

Bash it on the head, quick!

Every year, 300,000 seals meet their end not by mauling from a polar bear, but instantaneously from gunshot or a blow from a club. Four years ago the WWF, an environmental organization, commissioned an independent vet’s report which concluded that seal clubbing is not cruel if it is properly done by competent and trained professionals. The report judged that the Canadian hunt was professional and highly regulated. And the vets said that popular horror of the seal hunt seemed to be based largely on emotion and on images that are difficult even for experienced observers to interpret.

By the grim standards of Europe’s farrowing sheds, millions of seals enjoy a blissful life fishing and breeding on the Canadian ice. At least Canadian seals have the luxury of being stunned before they die. Compassion in World Farming, a lobby group, says that half the sheep killed in France are conscious when their throats are slit. Such treatment is possible through a loophole that allows for religious slaughter — a loophole that the same champions of animal welfare in the European Parliament voted to avoid closing on May 7th.

A few seals are killed to protect fish, others as a source of blubber or food. Most are indeed killed for their fur. That may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is hardly unEuropean. Europe’s fur farms produce over 30m mink and fox pelts a year. Every four or five days Europe kills more animals for their fur than the entire annual Canadian hunt does in a year. Seal hunting sounds unfair; but Europeans are reluctant to ban the hunting of similarly defenceless game birds, deer or wild boar.

A ban on the seal hunt would spare individual seals, but it may not do much for the seal population as a whole. When wildlife cannot be traded, it loses its value and thus the incentive for people to conserve it. Today the hunters exploiting the seals have an excellent reason to maintain a healthy and growing population. A trade ban would mean that the management or maintenance of a wild population becomes just another drain on resources. Sometimes ecotourism pays the bills, but it works only in places that are easy for tourists to get to.

Why did the European Parliament overlook all this? Seal-murdering foreigners are a soft target and animal-welfare groups have been lobbying MEPs for years. It may not be a coincidence that they finally voted for a ban just a month before they face elections. Having been invisible to their constituents for the past five years, what better way for MEPs to save their own skins than to fight valiantly for those of baby seals?

The following is taken directly from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada website (www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca).

Myth #1: Seals are being skinned alive.

Reality: Seals are not skinned alive. Independent international veterinarians and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) experts concluded that the suggestions by anti-sealing groups that many seals are skinned alive are not true. In fact, EFSA said in its 2007 report that “it is incorrect to conclude that 42% of the seals in the sample were skinned alive.”

Sometimes a seal may appear to be moving after it has been killed; however seals show muscle activity (referred to as a ‘swimming reflex’ even after death. This reflex gives the false impression that the animal is still alive– similar to the reflex in chickens.

Recent changes to the Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR) will enhance the humaneness of the annual seal hunt. These changes include the three-step process (stunning, checking, and bleeding the seals); and require sealers to verify death and animals being bled for a minimum of one minute prior to skinning.

Myth #2: The club – or hakapik – is an inhumane tool that has no place in today’s world.

Reality: It has been found that the use of the hakapik, when properly performed, is at least as humane as, and often more humane than, the killing methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, which are accepted by the majority of the public.

Seals may only be killed using efficient tools designed to kill the animal quickly such as high-powered rifles, shotguns firing slugs, clubs and hakapiks. All these methods are considered to be humane.

Myth #3: The Canadian government allows sealers to kill whitecoat seals.

Reality: The whitecoat seals are not hunted.

The hunting of harp seal pups (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks) is illegal – and has been since 1987. Whitecoat harp seals have not been hunted since 1982. The Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR) prohibit the trade, sale or barter of the fur of these pups. The seals that are hunted are self-reliant, independent animals.

Myth #4: The Canadian government is allowing sealers to kill thousands of seals to help with the recovery of cod stocks.

Reality: The impact of seals on the recovery of cod stocks is complex. Seals eat cod, but seals also eat other fish that prey on cod.

The commercial quota is established on sound conservation principles. The management objectives for the Canadian seal hunt are to provide economic advantage for sealers while maintaining a healthy population.

Myth #5: Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) provides subsidies for the seal hunt.

Reality: DFO does not subsidize the seal hunt. Sealing is an economically viable industry. All subsidies ceased in 2001. Before that time, any subsidies provided were for market and product development, including a meat subsidy, to encourage full use of the seal.

Myth #6: The hunt is unsustainable and is endangering the harp seal population.

Reality: Since the 1960s, environmental groups have been saying the seal hunt is unsustainable. Yet, the harp seal population is healthy and abundant. The Northwest Atlantic harp seal population is currently estimated at 5.6 million animals, nearly triple what it was in the 1970s, and has been at that level for the past ten years.

DFO sets quotas at levels that ensure the health and abundance of seal herds, and considers many factors, such as climate change, ice conditions, pup mortality, natural mortality, incidental harvest or bycatch, the Greenland and Arctic hunts and commercial harvest levels when making its decision. In no way are seals - and harp seals in particular – an “endangered species”.

Myth #7: The seal hunt provides such low economic return for sealers that it is not an economically viable industry.

Reality: The current harp seal harvest is conducted as an economically sustainable activity. It can make an important contribution to the annual income of people living in rural coastal communities, which also favours support for the traditional family and social ties and reduces outmigration to large urban centres. The loss of economic opportunities would have an important impact on people in these small communities.

The seal hunt provides direct employment for over six thousand people per year on a part-time basis. Some sealers have stated that their income from sealing can represent as much as 25-35% of their total annual income. There are also many secondary economic benefits derived from the seal industry.

Seals have been harvested for food, fuel, clothing and other products for hundreds of years and the sale products from this renewable resource represents a very important source of income in regions where economic opportunities are very limited. Seal products consist of leather, oil, handicrafts, and meat for human and animal consumption as well as seal oil capsules rich in Omega-3.

Myth #8: The seal hunt is loosely monitored and DFO doesn’t punish illegal hunting activity or practices.

Reality: Fishery officers conduct surveillance of sealers and sealing activities using aerial surveillance (both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters); vessel monitoring systems (satellite tracking); at-sea patrols and inspections; dockside/landing site patrols and inspections; and inspections at buyer/processor sites/facilities. The integration of different tools and surveillance methods are necessary for a well-balanced enforcement program.

The Canadian Coast Guard provides ship and helicopter support, and monitoring and enforcement are augmented as needed by the RCMP and the Quebec Provincial Police.
Infractions are taken seriously and sealers who fail to comply with Canada’s Marine Mammal Regulations are penalized. The consequences of illegal actions could include court-imposed fines and the forfeiting of catches, fishing gear, vessels and licences.

Myth #9: The majority of Canadians are opposed to the seal hunt.

Reality: Animal rights groups currently campaigning against the seal hunt cite a 2004 Ipsos Reid poll stating that the majority of Canadians are opposed to the hunt. In fact, DFO has conducted public opinion research on this subject in 2000 and 2005. The results of both polls indicated that a majority of Canadians do not object to the seal hunt if it is conducted in a humane manner.

1. What are the current seal populations?

Harp Seals:
There are three harp seal populations in the north Atlantic, of which the stock off Canada and western Greenland is the largest. The Northwest harp seal population is healthy and abundant and, since 1970, has nearly tripled in size. The estimated population size is more than 5.5 million animals.

Hooded Seals:
There are two whelping areas for hooded seals in Atlantic Canada: one in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the other off Newfoundland and Labrador. The Gulf of St. Lawrence component is small (approximately 10,000 animals) and hunting of this herd is prohibited. Based on the last surveys conducted in 2005, the total population of hooded seals was estimated at 593,500 animals.

Grey seals:
There are two grey seal herds, with the main breeding concentrations being in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. The grey seal herd population is estimated to be about 300,000 animals.

2. Which species of seals are hunted?

Six species of seals – the harp, hooded, grey, ringed, bearded and harbour – are found off the Atlantic coast of Canada, although ringed and bearded seals are typically Arctic species. Of the six species, harp and grey seals account for almost all the seals hunted commercially.

3. What are the Total Allowable Catches (TAC)? (Note: To be updated for 2009)

Commercial quotas:

The management measures for 2006-2010 set out the TAC for that period and are revised to allow for changes on an annual basis.

The harp seal TAC for 2008 was 275,000. The TACs for previous years were:
• 335,000 in 2006
• 270,000 in 2007

The hooded seal TAC for 2008 was 8,200. The TACs for previous years were:
• 10,000 in 2006
• 8,200 in 2007

The grey seal TAC for 2008 was 12,000 (2,000 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 10,000 on the Scotian Shelf). The TAC for 2007 was also 12,000.

Since 2007, a small commercial grey seal hunt has taken place on Hay Island in Nova Scotia.

Personal quotas:

Since 1995, residents adjacent to sealing areas throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec have been allowed to hunt up to six seals for their own use. Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal coastal residents who reside north of 53°N latitude can continue to hunt seals for subsistence purposes without a licence.

Seals have been hunted for food, fuel, shelter, fur and other products for hundreds of years. DFO is no longer involved in product support or promotion activities, but the department does encourage the fullest possible commercial use of seals. Seal products consist of leather, handicrafts, and meat for human and animal consumption as well as seal oil, which is rich in Omega-3.

4. How many seals are taken each year?

Harvest levels are highly variable, dependent on environmental and market conditions.

Harp seals:
In 2008, 217, 857 harp seals were taken, compared to 224,745 in 2007.

Hooded Seals:
Fewer than 400 hooded seals have been harvested annually in Canada since 1999.

Grey Seals:
In 2008, 1,472 grey seals were taken, compared to 887 in 2007.

5. What are seals hunted for?

Seals have been hunted for food, fuel, shelter, fur and other products for hundreds of years. DFO is no longer involved in product support or promotion activities, but the department does encourage the fullest possible commercial use of seals. Seal products consist of leather, oil, handicrafts, and meat for human and animal consumption as well as seal oil capsules rich in Omega-3.

6. What type of weapons are used to kill seals?

The Marine Mammal Regulations stipulate that only high-powered rifles, shotguns firing slugs, clubs or hakapiks may be used in the seal hunt.Sealers in the Magdelen Islands, the Quebec North Shore and in Western Newfoundland, where about 30 per cent of the hunt occurs, use both rifles and hakapiks (or clubs). Sealers on the ice floes on the Front (in the waters east of Newfoundland), where 70 per cent of the hunt occurs, primarily use rifles. A hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely. Changes in 2009 to the Marine Mammal Regulations prohibit the use of the hakapik as the instrument for the initial strike of seals over the age of one year.

7. How has the Canadian government proven its commitment to the humane treatment of seals?

The Marine Mammal Regulations stipulate that seals must be killed quickly using only high-powered rifles, shotguns firing slugs, clubs or hakapiks. The regulations contain explicit requirements for how these tools are used, and for assessing the consciousness of the seal.

In 2009, a number of amendments to the Marine Mammal Regulations came into force to further enhance the humaneness of the Canadian seal hunt. As a complement to detailed licence conditions, the amendments explicitly articulate Canada’s science-based, three-step process to ensure a humane kill. The updated regulations also provide clarity for others monitoring or observing the hunt, who must distinguish good practice from bad practice when it comes to animal welfare.

Licensing policy requires a commercial sealer to work under an experienced sealer for two years to obtain a professional licence. In addition to the two-year apprenticeship program for new sealers, governments, industry and other stakeholders are working together to deliver comprehensive information workshops in advance of the 2009 season.

8. What is the three-step process, exactly?

The three-step process for hunting seals is a science-based approach developed to ensure that seals do not suffer unnecessarily. The three steps are:

Step 1) "Striking" - Sealers must shoot or strike animals on the top of the cranium, with either a firearm or a hakapik or club;

Step 2) "Checking" - The sealer must palpate both the left and right halves of the cranium, following striking (either with a firearm, hakapik or club), to ensure that the skull has been crushed. This ensures that the seal is irreversibly unconscious or dead;

Step 3) "Bleeding" – The sealer must bleed the animal by severing the two axillary arteries located beneath the front flippers and must allow a minimum of one minute to pass before skinning the animal. Bleeding ensures that the seal is dead.

All this sounds cruel, but it is much more humaine than the methods used in commercial slaughter houses.

9. How old must seals be before hunters can take them?

Seals cannot be legally hunted until they have moulted their first coats and are living independently from their mothers. Seals are not usually hunted until they reach the "beater" stage of development at around 25 days old.

10. Why do hunters target young animals?

Young harp seals between approximately 3-4 weeks and one year of age are called beaters - so named because they tend to slap the water when they swim. Beater seals provide the most valuable pelts and market conditions are stronger for this type of pelt.

11. Where are seals hunted?

There are subsistence hunts in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. The majority of the commercial seal hunt occurs on the Front in Newfoundland and Labrador, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

12. What percentage of seals is hunted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence versus Newfoundland and Labrador?

Approximately 70 per cent of the commercial hunt occurs on the Front in Newfoundland and Labrador, while about 30 per cent occurs in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

13. How long does the hunt last? When does it begin and end?

The season for the commercial hunt of harp and hooded seals is from November 15 to May 15 as established in the Marine Mammal Regulations. The majority of sealing occurs in late March in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in early April on the Front.

The season for the subsistence hunt of ringed seals in Labrador is from April 25 to November 30, as established in the Marine Mammal Regulations.

14. How many commercial licences were issued in 2008?

Commercial:
In 2008, there were approximately 14,000 commercial licences issued to sealers, although only approximately 6000 licences were used.
A freeze on new commercial seal licences is in effect for all areas of Atlantic Canada and Quebec (with the exception of Aboriginal sealers, and the hunt for grey seals).

Personal:
Since 1995, personal use sealing licences have been issued to residents adjacent to sealing areas in Newfoundland and Labrador (south of 53°N latitude), the Quebec North Shore, the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands. These are areas hard hit by the groundfish fishery closures. This type of licence allows the holder to take up to six seals for personal consumption.

15. Are the hunting methods supported by veterinarians or non-governmental organizations?

The Government of Canada (GOC) has strict science-based regulations, which are reviewed regularly, to ensure a humane hunt.

Recent changes to the Marine Mammal Regulations (MMR) will further enhance the humaneness of the annual seal hunt. The amendments were developed based on recommendations from the Independent Veterinarians Working Group (with members from Canada, France, the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) and in consultation with provincial and territorial governments, the sealing industry, veterinarians, and others. They are also consistent with many of the European Food Safety Authority’s conclusions.

16. What is DFO doing to monitor the hunt?

The seal hunt is closely monitored and tightly regulated to ensure the animals are killed in a quick and humane manner.

Fishery officers have the primary responsibility for Monitoring-Control-Surveillance (MCS) activities and enforcement of the regulations governing the hunt. Other police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Quebec Provincial Police, may also be involved in monitoring the seal hunt.

Fishery officers conduct surveillance of sealers and sealing activities using aerial surveillance (both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters); vessel monitoring systems (satellite tracking); at-sea patrols and inspections; dockside/landing site patrols and inspections; and inspections at buyer/processor sites/facilities.

Independent at-sea fishery observers are randomly deployed to individual sealing vessels. Observers are fully trained professionals and are deployed full-time in other commercial fisheries after the seal hunt. While they do not have enforcement powers, they augment the monitoring done by Fishery officers and immediately report any irregularities.

In 2008, an integrated enforcement plan was developed by Fisheries and Oceans to further enhance monitoring of the seal hunt. It includes a two-phase approach .The first phase is a continuation of the traditional regional MCS activities, including the daily monitoring of seal hunt activities through land, sea and air based patrols.

The second phase is the deployment of an inter-regional Fishery officer MCS team. This team is a highly mobile force that maintains a 24 hour/7 day enforcement presence at the ice floes, and moves with the fleet as hunting activity changes. Fishery officers are deployed on a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker which is dedicated to the seal hunt enforcement program.

17. We are told that DFO takes sealing infractions seriously. What could happen if a sealer violates the regulations?

Sealers who fail to observe humane hunting practices, licence conditions, and catch requirements are penalized. Any violations of Canada’s regulations are taken very seriously – between 2003 and 2007, over 800 seal fishery violations were detected and 180 charges were laid, resulting in approximately 100 convictions.

The consequences of such illegal actions are decided by the court and could include court-imposed fines and the forfeiting of catches, fishing gear, vessels and licences. In a 2008 court decision, a sealer was fined $25,000 and prohibited from participating in the first (and most lucrative) day of the 2009 hunt.

18. What is the market value of seal pelts?

The markets for seal pelts vary significantly from one year to the next. The 2006 seal hunt was one of the most profitable in memory due to market demand for pelts and good ice conditions in seal hunting areas. In 2007, the landed value of the harp seal hunt was $12 million and average price per pelt received by sealers was approximately $52.

19. How much money do sealers earn?

Sealers’ income depends on the market value of seal pelts. DFO does not keep statistics on current industry markets. However, sealers have noted that the income derived from sealing can represent 25-35 per cent of their total annual income.

Sealing also presents economic benefits to remote coastal communities where employment opportunities are limited. The subsistence hunt is also a valuable link to Canadian cultural heritage.

20. How much of Canada’s population benefits directly from the seal hunt?

Estimates from DFO and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador find that between 5,000 and 6,000 individuals derive some income from sealing. This is approximately 1 per cent of the total provincial population, and 2 per cent of the labour force. This is a substantial number of individuals in the context of small rural communities.

Although sealing may seem to be a minor industry within the larger economy, many locally-important industries share this characteristic. For example, crop production and forestry each account for less than 1 per cent of Canadian GDP, but their local economic importance is undisputable.

21. Does DFO provide subsidies for the seal hunt?

The seal hunt is an economically viable activity and is not subsidized by DFO.

22. Do you allow the seal hunt to help the recovery of cod stocks?

The commercial seal quota is established based on sound conservation principles, not an attempt to assist in the recovery of groundfish stocks. Seals eat cod, but seals also eat other fish that prey on cod. There are several factors contributing to the lack of recovery of Atlantic cod stocks such as fishing effort, the poor physical condition of the fish, poor growth, unfavourable ocean conditions and low stock productivity at current levels.
It is widely accepted in the scientific community that there are many uncertainties in the estimates of the amount of fish consumed by seals. Seals and cod exist in a complex ecosystem, which makes it difficult to find simple solutions to problems such as the lack of recovery of cod stocks.

Now I know all of the above was rather wordy and long winded, but these are the true facts as put forth by the Canadian government to ensure that the ever growing population is controlled.

Think about it.

Three million females have 3 million pups (1 each) every reproductive year of their lives, which is some 20 some odd years. Natural predators might be able to eat one eighth of this, but that still leaves a Hell of a lot of seals out there.

Those are a lot of mouths to feed.

That’s a lot of fish lost to them.

The way I see it, PETA and other animal activists should just back off. Just because they say what is being done is wrong, does not make it right. They are merely another minority group, albeit a vocal one, trying to ram their point of view down the collective throats of the world.

In actual fact, long time PETA supporter, Sir Paul McCartney, is the one who should be fined heftily for his stunt back in 2007. Back then, he had his then wife when out on the ice in the Gulf of the St-Lawrence and came to within 2 meters of a whitecoat Harp seal pup.

There is a clear law about this: No person shall approach within 500 meters or touch the young of any species of seal within Canadian borders or face penalties ranging from 3 to 6 months in jail and / or a fine to be no less than $50,000 CDN.

Gee, Paul, 2 meters away and we all saw the pictures. Tsk.

So because of Paul and Bridget Bardot (who should really think of investing in plastic surgery – ugh!) and other such celebrities using their positions and popularity, a traditional way of life for the Native Inuit is being destroyed.

Hey, Bridget! Your poster of a seal beating up on a baby is what should be banned!

Anyone else wonder about the EU’s real motive for the ban considering they buy more than half of all the seal products Canada produces?

(*gets off soap box*)

There, my political rant for the year. I was long overdue.

Now before you flame, take the time to actually think about what you’re going to write. Do a little research, and not just on the activists’ sites out there. I know this is a very volatile subject. Plan your answer carefully because people may just start flaming you.

Happy hunting!