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Hunt to Start April 2 |
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March 30, 2007
Despite catastrophic ice conditions, Canadian officials gave word today that the 2007 seal slaughter will begin April 2 in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. They also named April 4 as the day that the hunt would begin in the northern Gulf. |
by Loren Drummond
Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans released the 2007 commercial seal hunt management plan March 29, setting the number of seals to be killed at 270,000. Approximately 78,000 of the targeted seals are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the rest are in more remote areas off the east coast of Canada.
The much-anticipated announcement came nearly a week later than expected because ice conditions in the Gulf are among the worst on record. The hunt is likely to begin over the next several days, but the precise time is still unknown.
"The ice is poorer than usual. The ice continues to deteriorate," said Kevin Stringer, director general of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Canadian government scientist Mike Hamill said that as many as 90 to 100 percent of newborn seal pups could have already perished in the southern Gulf because of the devastating ice conditions. Harp seals require sea ice to birth and nurse their pups.
Officials said that sealers will likely target surviving pups and their mothers, who have taken refuge on ice floes in a small area along the northern Gulf and in waters northeast of Newfoundland. Stringer would not comment on population estimates for the "patches of seals" spotted by government flyovers in the northern Gulf.
Sealers will not be restricted from hunting any seals left in the southern Gulf, even though the population has suffered higher losses than usual, officials said.
Rebecca Aldworth, HSUS director of Canadian Wildlife Issues, responded to the announcement: "I'm absolutely appalled that the Canadian government has just authorized a quota of 270,000 seals in the wake of this ecological disaster."
During the briefing in which they announced the plan, officials tried to deflect questions from journalists and concerns expressed by animal welfare advocates about the high quota by reiterating claims that the annual commercial hunt is sustainable. They called the seal herd an "abundant resource" and characterized the quota as "precautionary," even as they acknowledged the unusually high mortality rates among the pups.
