by Rebecca Aldworth
On June 15th, Canada’s 2009 commercial seal slaughter came to an end. Just over 72,000 harp seals were killed, almost all of them defenseless babies just weeks of age.
But even as we mourn these tragic, needless deaths, we can take comfort in the knowledge that more than a quarter of a million seals survived the slaughter. Sealers could have killed up to 280,000 harp seals this year, but with global markets for seal products closing, and prices for seal fur having crashed to just $15 per skin (down from over $100 in 2006), most sealers chose to stay home. The take for 2009 was the lowest in 14 years.
A Brighter Future
We can take solace too in the many positive developments we have seen in recent months:
- In March, Russia announced it would ban the killing of seals less than one year of age—effectively ending one of the most contentious seal hunts on the planet.
- In April, Canadian Senator Mac Harb joined HSI Canada at a press conference to reveal our 2009 seal hunt footage, and called on the European Union to end its trade in seal products. Weeks earlier, Senator Harb put forward a historic bill to ban seal product trade, signaling the end of unilateral federal support for commercial sealing in Canada.
- On May 5th, I stood in the European Parliament as 550 parliamentarians voted to close EU doors to the products of commercial seal hunts. Separately, in recent years 11 countries have banned their trade in seal products or announced their intentions to do so.
- On May 8th, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously in support of a resolution calling on the Canadian government to end the commercial seal hunt.
- Over 650,000 individuals and 5,000 restaurants and grocery stores have joined the ProtectSeals boycott of Canadian seafood. All have pledged to reduce or eliminate purchases of Canadian seafood until the commercial seal hunt ends for good. Companies participating in the ProtectSeals boycott include Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter, Bi Lo Supermarkets, Bon Appétit Management Company, Ted Turner’s Ted’s Montana Grill restaurant chain, WinCo Foods, The Fresh Market, and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafés. In addition, increasing numbers of Canadians are supporting the boycott by refusing to purchase snow crab and other seafood from Atlantic Canada.
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| Ever safer, but still a target. © HSI/Mark Glover |
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Reaction in Canada
Sadly, not all of the news has been good. Though most Canadians oppose the seal hunt, my government has threatened trade reprisals and WTO action in response to the European ban, even risking an ongoing multi-billion dollar free trade negotiation between Canada and the EU.
Canada’s Governor General made headlines this spring when she requested that seal meat be put on the menu at a traditional Inuit ceremony and then gutted a seal and asked to eat its heart. While Canadian media largely portrayed her actions as those of a “gracious guest” accepting what was offered, the global community took a different view.
Instead of attempting to find solutions to end this slaughter for good, Canadian political parties are falling all over each other to publicly support the sealing industry. I cannot begin to express my disappointment with the lack of leadership on this issue within the federal government.
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For their sake, we will never give up. © HSUS/Chad Sisneros |
The Fight Goes On
Clearly, we have more work to do. The sealing industry is down, but it is not out.
With generous subsidies, the Canadian government can help develop new markets in Asia and Russia. And that is why we are launching campaigns in even more key countries to stop the global trade in seal products.
Until we can provide a strong enough economic incentive, the Canadian government will not legislate an end to the seal hunt. The single most important thing individuals can do to help bring the commercial seal hunt to an end is to join the ProtectSeals boycott and encourage their favorite grocery stores and restaurants to do so as well. The boycott is having a clear financial impact on Canada’s sealers/fishermen (The commercial seal hunt is undertaken by fishermen who earn the vast majority of their income exporting seafood.) Through the boycott, we will succeed in giving Canada’s fishing/sealing industry the incentive it needs to finally give up the commercial seal hunt. To learn more about the boycott, click here.
We are in a race against time. Next March, the killing begins again. We are in a fight for the seals’ lives, and I know we can count on our supporters as we take our campaign to the next level. With your help, there is no way we can lose.
Rebecca Aldworth is Director of Humane Society International Canada (HSI Canada). For the past eleven, she has been a firsthand observer of Canada's commercial seal hunt, escorting more than 100 scientists, parliamentarians and journalists to the ice floes to witness the slaughter.
