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January/February 2000 issue	In this issue Table of Contents Editor’s Notebook Inside Story Feature: Seal wars Curious by nature

The seal hunt sparks emotional responses from both those who support the hunt and those who are adamantly opposed to it. Here is just some of what has been said and written about the Atlantic seal hunt:

"We disagree with the Canadian government’s statement that North Atlantic seals are a 'conservation problem.' All scientific efforts to find an effect of seal predation on Canadian groundfish stocks have failed to show any impact. Overfishing remains the only scientifically demonstrated problem… If fishing closures continue, the evidence indicates that stocks will recover, and killing seals will not speed that process."
(Part of petition signed at a December 1995 meeting of the Society of Marine Mammology by 97 scientiststs from 15 countries; from New Maritimes, May/June 1996)

"As a Canadian, I am deeply troubled by the evidence of widespread cruelty in the seal hunt. I am offended that my taxes are being used to promote an industry where over one hundred sealers are facing charges, or have already been convicted of deliberately killing protected pups and numerous other abuses. The time has come to end the commercial seal hunt."
(Clayton Ruby, lawyer and founding member of Canadians Against the Commercial Seal Hunt; from Canada News Wire, October 9, 1997)

"I love Newfoundland. I love its people and its spirit. And I fervently believe the re-opening of the seal hunt is degrading — both to the character and to the stature of a brilliant, caring culture."
(Timothy Findley, writer and member of Canadians Against the Commercial Seal Hunt; from Canada News Wire, October 9, 1997)

"Mr. Speaker, I would like to see the 6 million seals, or whatever number is out there, killed and sold, or destroyed and burned. I do not care what happens to them. The fact is that the markets are not there to sell more seals; 286,000 were hunted and sold. If there was a market for more … seals, the commercial sealers would be hunting and selling seals. The special allowance was for the personal use sealers, that they could take six seals for their personal use. What they do with the pelts, Mr. Speaker, is up to them. They cannot sell them because the markets are not there. What they wanted was to have the right to go out and kill the selas. They have that right, and the more they kill the better I will love it."
(John Efford, Minister of Newfoundland Fisheries and Aquaculture; from Newfoundland House of Assembly Proceedings Vol. XLIII No. 18, May 4, 1998)

"They’re saying that the seals left this mass carnage on the bottom of the ocean, … but [they’ve] only looked at one of several possible explanations. There is no evidence that harp seals eat anything much beside whole prey."
(David Lavigne, Executive-Director of the International Marine Mammals Association Inc., in reference to the release of a Newfoundland Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture video showing hundreds of dead, partially eaten cod, supposedly killed by seals; from the Globe & Mail, March 8, 1999)

"Let us arm ourselves to the teeth, jump into anything that floats and head off to the ice floes…. After looking at the pictures of all those dead fish on the ocean floor at Deer Island Tickle, I’ve decided it’s time to swing into action. It’s time to stop getting mad and start getting even. It’s time for everybody to head to the basement, shed, bedroom or wherever you keep your weapons, and bring forth water pistols, sling-shots, and pea shooters — it’s time to prepare for war. What about groups like the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Greenpeace? They’ll surely attempt to stand in your way. Stand? Hah! Double the price of an activist pelt as compared to the seal!"
("Sealing our fate" editorial by Jamie Baker in reference to the video noted above; Compass, Bay Roberts, Nfld., March 16, 1999)

"I find it baffling that our government would discharge the sealer that attacked journalists at knife-point in 1997; do nothing when journalists were again threatened with violence and smeared with blood by sealers in 1998; and choose instead to trump up charges against law-abiding journalists and release sealers who openly assault observers in 1999. It is clear that this government is unable to properly regulate the hunt, and it is clearer still that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans would rather coerce and intimidate journalists than allow Canadians to see the reality of the hunt."
(Rick Smith, National Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare-Canada (IFAW); from IFAW-Canada press release on alleged attacks by sealers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, March 24, 1999)

"The harp seal population in 1999 is calculated at 5.4 million animals, up from a population of 2.0 million in 1971. This calculation in based on growth parameters, such as pup production, natural and fishing mortality rates…. The harp seal population is estimated to be increasing by 5% annually. In 1994, 765,000 pups were born compared to the birth of 300,000 pups in 1972."
(From Sealing industry briefing notes, Newfoundland Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, April 1999)

"I’m not saying to go out there and take all the seals out of the ocean. What I’m saying is you have to bring the numbers down from six million. We have to take out a massive number of seals … in order to restore some balance."
(John Efford, Minister of Newfoundland Fisheries and Aquaculture; from The Navigator: The voice of the Fishing Industry in "A trip to the ice" by Ted Warren, April 1999)

"The management of the harp seal herd is repeating all the same mistakes that led to the destruction of the northern cod stock. Support from provincial ministers for a reduced kill would be responsible and sensible. I call on provincial ministers to listen to the science and the facts, and ignore the mythology."
(Rick Smith, National Director of IFAW-Canada; from IFAW-Canada press release, April 12, 1999)

"Inuit support the sustainable development approaches of government. Inuit practice not only the wise management of resources, but also the wise use of resources. Governments should be utilizing our common position and work with Inuit to ensure the sustainable practices continue."
(Okalik Eegeesiak, President of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, April 14, 1999)

"There is no justification for a cull, and [Minister for Newfoundland Fisheries and Aquaculture]. Mr. Efford knows this. Yet, he seems to feel no remorse in trumpeting this issue for his own political gain by taking advantage of the frustration rural Newfoundlanders face over the collapse of the northern cod stock. Calls for a harp seal cull may improve the popularity of a Newfoundland politician, but it is a scientific fact that seal culling will not help Canadian fisheries. If [Federal Fisheries and Oceans] Minister Anderson is truly interested in conservation, he will ignore irresponsible calls for a seal cull and instead decrease next year’s harp seal kill-quota to bring this hunt back to a sustainable level."
(Rick Smith, National Director IFAW-Canada; from IFAW-Canada press release, April 14, 1999)

"If there were no viable markets these companies wouldn’t be buying, period. Nobody is going to be buying the pelts, the fat and the meat that’s been bought, if they didn’t have a use for it."
(Tina Fagan, Executive Director of the Canadian Sealers’ Association; from The St. John’s Telegram, April 28, 1999)

"I don’t spend a lot of time listening to non-factual or unscientific representations, either from the IFAW or Mr. Efford.… My wish is to look at the best scientific information we can. We don’t know enough at this stage to authorize a cull."
(David Anderson, then Minister of Fisheries and Oceans; from The St. John’s Telegram, April 29, 1999)

"A new element has now been added to the debate on sealing. In 1992, the northern cod fishery was placed under a moratorium. Other groundfish fisheries followed in quick succession. Initially there was a widespread expectation that, without pressure from fishing stocks would quickly recover, perhaps within as little as two years, and fishing would be able to resume. Seven years later, however, there have been only modest gains in the status of most groundfish stocks and some have even continued to decline. The natural inclination is to look for a cause.

"… the FRCC is convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that the conservation of groundfish stocks, most notably cod, will continue to be jeopardized if the seal herds remain at their current levels…. action must be taken immediately in order to improve opportunities for the conservation and recovery of cod and other groundfish stocks, without waiting for absolute scientific proof of the effects of seal predation. As a guideline for the preparation of seal harvest precautionary management plans, we strongly suggest that the seal herds be reduced by up to 50% of their current population levels."
(Fisheries Resource Conservation Council; from 1999 Conservation requirements for the Gulf of St. Lawrence groundfish stocks and cod stocks in Divisions 2GH and 3Ps, Report to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, May 1999)

"If he [Fisheries and Oceans minister, David Anderson] sidesteps now that responsibility, he has no right to be minister of Fisheries and Oceans for Canada."
(John Efford, Minister of Newfoundland Fisheries and Aquaculture, in response to the FRCC recommendations; from The St. John’s Telegram and The Canadian Press, May 6, 1999)

"This is based on superstition, not science… The FRCC would not be able to produce one credible scientific study to back up those recommendations."
(Rick Smith, National Director of IFAW-Canada, in response to the FRCC recommendations; from The St. John’s Telegram and The Canadian Press, May 6, 1999)

"During this same period, populations of seals, particularly harp seals, have increased dramatically. For many people, the equation is simple and the conclusion inescapable. Seals eat fish, including cod; there are a great many seals and not many cod: ergo, predation by seals is preventing the recovery of cod stocks…. On the other hand, some observers believe just as strongly that there is no clear link between the burgeoning seal population and the failure of the cod stocks to recover. They point to the fact that cod make up only a small portion of the diet of seals. When additional species are thrown into the equation, the outcome is unpredictable. If, for example, seals prey on a species that also preys on juvenile cod or that competes with cod, reducing the seal population could well further destabilize the balance of the ecosystem. Unfortunately, current science is as yet unable to provide a definitive answer."
(From the report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, June 1999)

"Our research has shown that the harp seal population is very likely in decline. Furthermore, there is considerable risk that the population will be seriously depleted before a decline is detected by current census methods."
(Peter Mesenheimer, co-author with David Johnston and David Lavigne (all of the International Marine Mammals Association Inc. in Guelph, Ont.) of a study that appeared in Conservation Biology; from IMMA press release, November 23, 1999)

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