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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE CANADIAN SEAL HUNT |
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1) Wasn't this hunt stopped in the 70's? I thought that Brigitte Bardot and Greenpeace ended this years ago. What's up? A: Since the first protest in 1955, those who wished to stop the killing have filmed the horrors, published articles about it, obtained proclamations from foreign governments in opposition to the killing, proposed and facilitated alternative sources of income for seal killers, written countless letters to Canadian officials, and staged demonstrations around the world. The U.S. Congress even introduced legislation in 1972 to ban the importation of commodities made from marine mammals, but it wasn't until a worldwide outcry led to European actions in the 1980's- the ban on the importation of baby seal pelts (whitecoats) in 1983, and the threat of a boycott of Canadian fish products in 1987- that the killing declined dramatically. But it never ended. The Canadian government and the seal-killing industry worked tirelessly to develop new markets to replace those eliminated by these actions; and the government required that seal killers wait until seal pups molted at about 2 weeks of age, when, according to the government, they become adults. An average of 60,000 seals were killed each year between 1984 and 1994. In 1995, the commercial hunt was resumed when a Newfoundlander named Brian Tobin became the Minister of Fisheries. This was two years after the cod fishery collapsed due to over-fishing. The fishermen blamed the seals for the decline of the cod and demanded a kill. Since 1994, the kill quota has risen each year. Markets were developed in Asia; and seal skins were sold in the seal killing nation, Norway, as well as in Denmark, Poland, Estonia, and Greece. The three year plan ending this year (2005) was to kill almost one million seals. When the "struck and lost" seals are included, the total killed exceeds one millions, making this the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world. Still the Newfoundlanders are not satisfied and are demanding that even more seals be killed. Some Newfoundland politicians have called for eradication. As an aside, it is a mistake to credit Greenpeace with ending the hunt. Greenpeace was one of the organizations opposing the hunt between 1976 and 1982. There were many other organizations involved including the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Fund for Animals and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. From 1984 until this year Greenpeace refrained from actively opposing the hunt. (see more details about the annual Canadian seal slaughter) 2) Where do the pelts go? Are any sold in Canada? What country buys the most pelts? A: Most of the pelts are first purchased by processors in Newfoundland. The main companies are Carino, based in South Dildo, Newfoundland, and Atlantic Marine Products, with its main plant in Catalina, Newfoundland. Carino is a subsidiary of a Norwegian company named Karl Rieber & Sons based in Bergen, Norway. Atlantic Marine Products is a subsidiary of the Barry Group, a major seafood processor and exporter in Atlantic Canada. After the pelts are processed, some are sold in Canada but most are imported into Norway. In 2004, other major importers were Greenland, Germany, China, Poland, Denmark, Hong Kong, Greece, France, Russia, and South Korea (in order from most to least number of pelts imported). In prior years, Ukraine, Estonia, and Japan also imported large numbers of pelts. The pelts are sold in Canada, Europe, Asia, and possibly other parts of the world, but they are not sold in the United States due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Canadian government is currently developing plans to subvert this treasured environmental protection through such measures as appeals to international trade ruling boards. The slaughter of the seals is not by itself economically viable. The current wholesale price of seal skins provides greater incentives to the sealers; but without government subsidies, including the work of the Coast Guard in carving paths through the ice for the sealing boats, the commercial seal "hunt" would not survive. (see more details about the seal skins and fur market).  3)
What happens to the meat of the seals after they are killed?A: Most of the meat is wasted and left on the ice. Some if it is sold to fur farms and some is ground up into animal feed. A few thousand seal flippers are sold for human consumption in Newfoundland. There is also a growing black market demand for the seal penis bone in the Far East as some sort of voodoo quack remedy for impotence. 4) Why do they kill them with clubs? Why not use bullets? A: Most of the younger seals are killed with clubs or hakapiks in order to not downgrade their pelts with a bullet hole. Since older seals are faster, more aggressive, and can swim, most are shot at a distance with high powered rifles to limit their efforts at escape. (unless it's a clean shot, most wounded seals will head for the nearest open water where they often will simply slip away under the ice and perish.) Some seals are caught in nets and die from drowning. Many seals are run down in the ice, especially by the Canadian government ice-breakers. (see the Annual Slaughter page for more details about the hunt) 5) You guys (opposing the seal hunt) aren't against native peoples surving and subsisting off seals, are you? What gives? A: There are few indigenous peoples involved in the commercial seal "hunt". Inuit or Native people in the North hunt mostly in the arctic and primarily ringed seals. Most of the sealers in the Gulf of St.Lawrence are residents of the Magdalen Islands of Quebec. These are French speaking people. Most of the sealers of the Newfoundland Front are descendents of the European immigrants. There are about 4500 Inuit in Newfoundland. However, the original Newfoundlanders, the Beothuk, were driven into extinction by the European immigrants. The last member of the Beothuk nation died in 1912. The Newfoundlanders had a bounty on the Beothuk and most were slain by MicMac Indian bounty hunters from New Brunswick and Quebec. Newfoundlanders also drove the Newfoundland wolf, the walrus, and the Labrador duck to extinction and extirpated the polar bear, and the pilot whale from Newfoundland territory.... 6) Is there a blackmarket for any seal products? A: With the exception of the seal penis bone market in Asia, there is not really a black market for seal products because there is little demand for them. However, whenever a sealer exceeds his quota, there are no legal consequences. Sealers in Canada have a license to torture, mutilate, and kill over quota without fear of repercussions.(see the Annual Slaughter page for more details about the hunt) 7) If polls show that the majority of Canadian citizens are against the hunt, why don't they just stop it with a vote? A: The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans is a bureaucracy run primarily by Newfoundlanders. They set the policy. Politicians have basically rubber-stamped the wishes of the bureaucrats. Most of the Fisheries Ministers have hailed from Newfoundland. Another problem is that there is much competition between the political parties to control Newfoundland and any party that opposes the seal hunt is out of the running. Therefore the parties have all agreed to support the hunt, leaving no alternatives for people who are opposed to the hunt. Even the Green Party of Newfoundland supports the seal kill for fear of losing votes. (see the Politics, Propaganda, and Culture page for more insight) 8) What advantages or positive things does Canada get from the seal hunt? A: Canada receives a great deal of bad press because of the seal slaughter. It does not receive much in the way of income and the seal hunt contributes nothing to the Gross National Product of the country. On the contrary, the hunt is a negative drain on the economy because of tax dollars spent to subsidize it. (see the Politics, Propaganda, and Culture page for more insight) 9) There's a war going on and other animal species going exctinct all around the world. Why should I care about Canadian seals? A: There is always a war going on someplace. People are continually fighting amongst themselves. There is also another war going on and that is the war against nature and against wildlife. All marine mammals are faced with extinction because of hunting, pollution and destruction of habitat and carrying capacity. There is no justification for waging this, the world's second largest slaughter of a mammalian species (second only to the Kangaroo, in Australia) and the largest slaughter of any marine mammals. In addition the hunt is cruel, vanity and greed driven by luxury, (pelts), economically wasteful, propped up by subsidies and bolstered by propaganda. 10) What can I do about it? A: Get involved. Check out our "what you can do to help end the killing" page for ideas on opposing the slaughter of seals... Or, better yet, just cut to the chase and sign up now to help the seals! FOR MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE SEAL HUNT (asked by a Newfoundland college student) click here * Or, perhaps you have others? Feel free to send us one of your own and we'll try and get you a solid answer. |
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Content of Harpseals.org copyright 2000-2005. All rights reserved.
HOWEVER, we highly encourage creative forms of copying, plagerization, downloading of text, cutting, pasting, distributing, and utilizing the content on this site for any ANTI-sealing purposes, mediums, or formats you can think of.
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SEAL FACTS | THE ANNUAL SLAUGHTER | POLITICS, PROPAGANDA & CULTURE | ANALYSIS OF A HUNTER
THE OPPOSITION EFFORT | PRESS RELEASES & MEDIA ATTENTION | AN ECONOMIC EXAMINATION | ALTERNATIVES
STILL PHOTO ARCHIVES | VIDEO ARCHIVES
Content of Harpseals.org copyright 2000-2005. All rights reserved.
HOWEVER, we highly encourage creative forms of copying, plagerization, downloading of text, cutting, pasting, distributing, and utilizing the content on this site for any ANTI-sealing purposes, mediums, or formats you can think of.
We only ask for a link to this site in return.
Note: All photos found in this website, however, are the property of those given credit and are not to be reproduced,
utilized, or referenced in ANY way without the owner's specific permission.