Cape fur seals, also known as South African fur seals, historically inhabited the islands off the coast of South Africa. But overhunting and harassment from humans have forced them from the islands and onto the mainland of Namibia and South Africa. Now, the Cape fur seals are threatened by a commercial hunt that grows larger every year.
Namibia is the only country in the Cape fur seal's range in which commercial hunting is permitted. Sealing occurs on two mainland colonies, Cape Cross and Wolf/Atlas Bay, where 75 percent of the pups are born. From July 1 through Nov. 15, commercial hunters hire approximately 160 part-time workers to kill the seals, most pups between the ages of 7 and 11 months. Hunters club the pups on the head with large, ice-pick-like clubs, and then stab them in the heart. The much larger bulls are shot.
Despite a declining population of Cape fur seals and high mortality rates among the seal population, the hunting quota increases every year, ballooning to 91,000 seals in 2006. (See sidebar.)
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A Growing Quota |
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 In 1993, the hunting quota allowed for the killing of 50,850 pups out of 164,248 pups born that year. Soon after, the government announced that one-third to one-half of the total seal population had starved to death.
In 2000, the hunting quota increased to 60,000 pups, despite a 10 percent drop in pup production. After the 2000 hunting season, another mass die-off occurred.
In 2000, Humane Society International sent a letter to then-President Samuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma, urging him to reduce the quota and phase out the hunt. The letter was ignored.
The 2006 seal kill quota of 85,000 pups and 6,000 bulls is up from 65,000 pups and 5,000 bulls in 2005.
In late 2006, more than 3,200 emails from HSI activists were sent to the Prime Minister. There has still been no response from the government.
Updated Feb. 9, 2007 |
This hunt quota, combined with a natural 30 percent mortality rate of pups within the first few weeks of life, could result in the annihilation of this year's entire seal pup population. The increased quota is hard to justify when the population has yet to recover from mass die-offs in 1994 and 2000.
The prime minister of Namibia, Nahas Angula, admits that the population has at best only recovered to 73 percent of what it was before the die-offs, but he claims that the numbers are enough to steadily increase the harvest quota every year.
Humane Society International responded in a letter to the current Namibian president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, voicing disapproval of these new, higher quotas.
Cape fur seals are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Species on Appendix II are not threatened with extinction, but their survival is dependent on conservation measures.
The hunt in Namibia is the second largest commercial seal hunt in the world, and it would not comply with most other nations' laws protecting marine mammals. It is inhumane and unsustainable. Its high quotas are non-precautionary and violate modern basic principles of good wildlife management.
