WHY VEGANS CAN (and SHOULD) SUPPORT
a CANADIAN SEAFOOD BOYCOTT for the SEALS!

This page examines the philosophical questions that arose when a few animal protection organizations that espouse a vegan lifestyle decided not to support the Canadian seafood boycott.

Although Harpseals.org has never insisted that all groups sign on to this strategy, we, and many other animal protection and environmental organizations, believe that this is the most effective strategy we can use to achieve our goal: a total, permanent ban on seal killing in Canada NOW.

We wish to emphasize that we are more than willing to work with any organization that seeks an end to the seal slaughter. We respect their right to strive toward this end in their own way. That's why we list all these organizations as part of the Unified Opposition.

We do, however, take exception to any organization's active opposition to the seafood boycott. This is why we have taken the initiative to develop this response. Here we outline arguments that we hope will convince vegans to embrace the seafood boycott.

(Point of view #1- from Harpseals.org)
Why Vegans Can and Should Support the Canadian Seafood Boycott:
(written by an 18 year practicing vegan)

The seals are crying out for help. They are completely defenseless. They are being massacred by the hundreds of thousands every year now by our neighbor to the north. We must act with a sense of urgency and come to their aid now.

We can take comfort from one fact, however. According to recent polls, we have most of Europe and North America on our side, and this includes the vast majority of Americans and Canadians.

One would think that if the vast majority of Canadians opposed the seal killing, since Canada is a democracy, the killing would be outlawed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The will of the people has not prevailed in Canada for two main reasons: the government operates under the influence of the powerful fishing lobby, and the government stifles dissent by maintaining tight control over the media.

So how can we stop the massacres? We could try to reform the Canadian media so that we could mobilize Canadians to pressure their representatives for an end to the massacres. But this is not a quick solution. In the meantime, millions of helpless seals would be clubbed and shot to death. So although this is a worthy project, for the sake of the seals, we should seek another strategy, too.

What else could we try? We could take on the demand side of the equation. If there were no market for the seal pelts, the Canadians would have much less incentive to kill them (though the seals would remain the scapegoat for the poor recovery of the cod population). The difficulty in this is that the seal pelts are purchased primarily by people in certain European and Asian countries where killing any animals for fur is considered acceptable by the majority. Furthermore, thanks to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the importation of seal pelts is illegal in the U.S. Consequently, working to eliminate the demand for seal pelts requires a campaign to change the value systems of people in certain foreign countries, including Russia, Norway, and China. Although this is a laudable project, it is one that may take generations. The seals who are being killed now would appreciate our finding a quicker way to help them.

The seals' salvation lies in the fishing industry. Why?

* Since most sealers are fishermen, a boycott of the seafood industry will affect those directly responsible for the massacres. The financial hit from the boycott will easily exceed their income from killing seals. Even if they killed twice as many seals (if the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) allowed it), they could not make up the difference.

* Most of the seafood companies do not advocate the seal slaughter. They do not earn money from it and are not concerned about the cod population. But the corporations that do support the massacres of seals are the vocal ones. They are lobbying the DFO to continue the seal killing. The others remain silent, afraid of offending the government agency that supports them (the DFO). They all have a lot to lose, as they will soon see, thanks to the Canadian seafood boycott. This is because the value of the seafood industry to Atlantic Canada alone is two orders of magnitude greater than the value of the sealing industry. The silent majority will be forced to talk to the DFO and their MP's about the financial hit they are facing for the sake of small change for a few fishing corporations and a dubious argument about cod populations. And those companies that have been lobbying for seal killing and quota increases will be forced to make the only logical financial decision possible in the face of a major boycott: to withdraw their support for the seal slaughter.

* Since the majority of Americans support a ban on killing seals and most Americans consume seafood, and since 70% of Canadian seafood exports are consumed by Americans (see http://atn-riae.agr.ca/seafood/industry-e.htm), thanks to the formation of a powerful network of organizations promoting the seafood boycott, this strategy will work, and it will work fast. That means we will save lives in the near term, not after decades have passed and tens of millions more innocents have been brutally murdered.

But what about the fish?

* The boycott may reduce the number of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks sold for food as some consumers may choose different meals altogether. At worst, the same number of sea animals will be killed for food initially. Even so, the prices the industry can sell the fish for will drop as retailers find it more difficult to sell them to consumers. This in turn will lower the incentive to catch as many of these animals.

* Though this campaign does not directly address the issue of killing fish, mollusks, and crustaceans for food, those promoting the boycott can take this opportunity to introduce seafood consumers to vegetarian alternatives like mock fish and mock shrimp (available at many Asian groceries). No organization need give the O.K. to begin consuming Canadian seafood after the Canadian government outlaws the slaughter of seals.

* Although the campaign is referred to as a Canadian "seafood boycott," groups and individuals opposed to labeling fish "seafood" are welcome to refer to the campaign in their own way. For example, a vegan activist might say, "If you still eat fish and shellfish, at least don't eat Canadian fish and shellfish. This will persuade the Canadians to stop slaughtering helpless baby harp seals. And if you've already switched to a compassionate vegetarian diet, please tell anyone you know who eats Canadian fish and shellfish to avoid it now, for the seals."

So, we all want to stop the seal slaughter now, and we can all, in good conscience support the Canadian seafood boycott, in some form. Let's unite and save the seals!
HERE'S AN IDEA: TALK ABOUT
THIS ISSUE IN: SEAL TALK!

Talk about the seal hunt!

Check out our interactive bulletin board relating to the seal hunt. All viewpoints and opinions on both sides of the issue are valued in a non-biased forum.

Local, outsider, insider, hunter, traveler, tourist... all are welcome. No subject is taboo. You can be curious, ignorant, innocent, informative, blatant, subdued, treacherous, crazy, or ANONYMOUS.


(Point of view #2- from a Sea Shepherd member and observer)
A few organizations have criticized the groups calling for a boycott of Canadian seafood. This criticism takes a strict doctrinal approach to the boycott and argues that since they do not agree with eating fish, they do not accept that people should be encouraged to help the seals by choosing which fish to eat.

While we may agree that in a perfect world nobody would eat fish, the simple fact is that people do eat fish and by refusing to support the boycott, these organizations will not change that fact for a single person.

However, supporting the boycott will help in many ways. First and foremost, by not eating Canadian fish, hundreds of thousands of seals may be saved. That alone is sufficient reason to support this boycott.

It is not true that by making a choice not to eat Canadian seafood, a person is making a choice to eat some other seafood. A person who declines a shrimp cocktail because it comes from Canada may easily choose guacamole or grilled vegetables! In other words, the boycott of Canadian seafood may lead to some other marine life being saved.

However, perhaps almost as important as all other reasons, people who do take part in the boycott will make a political decision about the food they eat.

By supporting the boycott, we thus encourage people to understand that politics and food choices are linked – that the choices they make everyday about the food they will eat have consequences. It is not a huge step for those people to then realize that eating any seafood is harmful for the world’s ecosystems, and that, for the planet's ecosystems to survive, we will all have to adopt a plant based diet.

To put it another way, encouraging people to observe the boycott is a way of teaching them to think about the food that they eat.

(Point of view #3- from another Sea Shepherd member and observer)
On Sea Shepherd’s website we say “Sea Shepherd discourages the consumption of any seafood, but for those who do consume it, we urge you to join in the Boycott of Canadian Seafood.”

By failing to support the Canadian seafood boycott, a small group of vegans/vegetarians is trying to pretend that the rest of the world should not view fish as food.

In reality, 99% of people in the world do think of fish as food for people. It will be many, many years from now (if ever) before a majority of the population adopts vegan views.

I think they should read what Steve Best has to say about the boycott and also look at what happened in the early 80’s. I think it is possible to hit them where it hurts – which is financially.

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