Animal News
An unnecessary slaughter - Mar 11th 2009
An unnecessary slaughter
Melissa Rombough - Science/Enviro/Health Editor
Melissa Rombough - Science/Enviro/Health Editor
March 11, 2009
It’s been met with worldwide protest. Public opinion has been
dwindling for years. Markets have been banned in several countries.
Yet, in the face of all these factors Canadians will once again take
to the ice later this month for the largest commercial killing of
marine mammals on the planet—the Canadian seal hunt.
Heading into this editorial I knew I would be making a statement by
taking on one of the most controversial topics for Canadians. But as
both a Canadian and a human being, I decided it is my right to discuss
that which I feel passionate about. Martin Luther King once said, “Our
lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
The Canadian seal hunt has been called everything from a hunt to a
harvest. Those who blame seals for the disappearing cod call it a
cull, while animal lovers and protesters rightfully argue it is a
slaughter.
The annual hunt is a government subsidized and regulated industry. It
is an off-season activity for less than 6,000 fishermen on Canada’s
east coast, making up for just one half a per cent of the commercial
fishing industry.
For the past three years the annual allowable catch of seals has
ranged between 270,000 and 350,000 according to the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans. In 2008 over 220,000 seals were killed. For the
2009 season, the government has announced a quota of 294,000 harp
seals, 8,200 hooded seals and 200 grey seals will be killed.
Before you write this off as animal rights propaganda, hear me out. I
cannot ever think all hunting will be eliminated, but it is how and
why the seals are killed that is making me speak against it.
The market for seal products has been disappearing for years. The
United States banned Canadian seal products in 1972 and many countries
including Mexico, the Netherlands, and Belgium have followed. The hunt
now brings in just $13 million annually. So, in a year where 300,000
seals may be killed, the profit per seal will ring in at $43. The hunt
is no longer economically necessary and with the use of hakapiks—clubs—
it is anything but humane. I beg anyone to argue with me.
The hunt for harp and hooded seals is set to begin in the Gulf of the
St. Lawrence later this month and off Newfoundland and Labrador in mid-
April.
But the hunt for a smaller group of grey seals has already begun,
unknown to the public. Earlier this year, the Department of Fisheries
and Oceans and the government of Nova Scotia announced that due to a
global market shortage, grey seals would not be hunted this year. Not
true. The hunt began on Feb. 16—a decision that was not announced to
the public or those who had permits to document the hunt.
In recent years protest against the seal hunt has been relatively
quiet compared to the height of the movement during the 1970s and 1980s.
Lately, however, I have had a little more hope in light of two events.
The first comes from a lone senator. Last Tuesday, senator Mac Harb
introduced a private member’s bill to see the commercial hunt stopped
in the face of disappearing markets. His bill did not receive one vote
to second it.
Though it has been called futile, I cannot help but feel proud that
someone in Ottawa is finally speaking up for the seals.
The second event could see more impact. The European Union has
proposed a ban that would prevent the imports on all seal products
except those hunted by Inuit.
If successful, the ban would affect the demand of fur by the fashion
industry and upset shipping routes through Germany and Holland.
Additionally, the ban could decimate half of the annual value of the
hunt and leave only countries like Russia, China and Norway as
potential markets.
There was once an estimated 30 million harp, hooded and grey seals in
Canada. Today that number is closer to five million, meaning Canadians
now outnumber seals six to one—a far cry from the overpopulation
excuse that has been used to justify the hunt for years.
At the end of this editorial remains the question: what can be done by
the average person? Call, write or e-mail your local MP. Petitions are
also available through non-profit societies, which are then sent to
Ottawa. To sign a petition, or learn more information for yourself,
