Anti-sealing issue still alive

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 33, ISSUE 10, APRIL 20, 2009
The following extract is reproduced with permission from Sandy Parker Reports, Weekly International Fur News. Sandy Parker has been covering the fur industry for more than four decades. For most of that time he has published a weekly newsletter, detailing results of international pelt auctions, wholesale price trends, business developments and movements in the trade, as well as economic and political activities that may impact on it.

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International Fur News
with Sandy Parker

Anti-sealing issue still alive

THE MAIN PART OF CANADA’S ANNUAL SEAL HARVEST GOT UNDER WAY LAST WEEK amid the usual outpouring of protests by animal rights organizations, but market factors appeared to be having more of an influence on the hunt than the protesters. Early indications were that, by the end of the hunt, less than a third of the government-established quota would be taken. The main consideration is not the availability of seals – the population is estimated to be the largest in over a century. The overriding factor is the prices the pelts will bring and whether they will justify the sealers’ efforts and expenses.

The first stage of the harp seal harvest got started late last month in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the Magdalen Islands off the coast of Quebec. The number of sealers who participated was far lower than in previous years, mainly because of a significant drop in the prices that buyers were willing to pay. Far from an all-time high of $105 (Canadian) three years ago, the market now is said to be down around $30 for top qualities – and their dollar has come down in value as well. The Magdalen quota was 23,000, but the sealers took only 19,400 to fill orders.

The main part of the hunt, off the northeast coast of Newfoundland known as the Front, began last week. This is where the bulk of the animals are to be caught. This year’s quota there is 182,000, but the expectation is that only about 50% will be taken because of the reduced demand and the sharp drop in prices. Other Gulf of St. Lawrence areas opened April 8 with a quota of 59,000, but only 3,600 were landed.

The current quotas are the largest since Canada instituted the system more than 40 years ago, a reflection of the steady increase in the seal population. According to wildlife officials, the harp seal population is about 5.2 million, more than triple what it was before the quotas were set. This has exacerbated a sharp decline in Canadian fishing stocks caused by European overfishing, a problem that had been eased by a self-imposed moratorium.

Although the protests have become a permanent fixture of the annual hunt, they have had minimal effect on the hunts themselves. However, the campaigns’ emphasis on alleged inhumanity may have helped shrink the European markets for the pelts. This, despite scientific evidence that has shown the traditional club to be the most humane way to dispatch this animal. About seven years ago, following a two-year study of sealing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, researchers with the Atlantic Veterinary College determined that the harvest is largely carried out in a humane manner. The researchers observed seal hunts off the Iles de la Madeleine for two seasons and found that 98% were killed swiftly with a gunshot or a club. The study concluded “the large majority of seals taken during this hunt x are killed in an acceptably humane manner.” The group made their observations from land, on Coast Guard vessels and from sealing boats. The report, titled Animal Welfare and The Harp Seal Hunt in Atlantic Canada, was funded partly by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. Its findings contradicted those of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which estimated 30% of seal deaths are delivered in a cruel, painful manner.

The findings in that study paralleled those determined by a similar, but more sophisticated examination of killing methods used on Alaska seals nearly 40 years ago, to which this editor was an eyewitness. Those tests, conducted by U.S. government veterinarians and other scientists on St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands during the then-permissible annual fur seal harvest, precisely measured the time of death caused by a wide variety of methods. The technicians worked with electrocardiographs, electroencephalographs and other devices and discovered that all methods except the club required at least several minutes – up to 14 – to be effective. The traditional club-and-blade method (the club to stun and the blade to pierce the heart) averaged 22 seconds, according to the EEG readings.

Nevertheless, the anti-sealing pressure prevailed and resulted in the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 26 years ago which effectively banned the trade in seal products in the U.S. Just two weeks ago, the European Union moved closer to a complete ban when a decision in that direction was made by the ambassadors representing the EU member states. The final vote is expected shortly. One option still open to the EU is to establish criteria and standards which would allow seal products to continue to be sold in member countries. This would provide an important incentive to meet the highest level of welfare. As has been pointed out by Rob Cahill, executive director of the Fur Institute of Canada, seals will continue to be hunted to manage their populations, so the EU would not be discouraging the killing of seals, but rather the responsible use of animals that are managed under regulated hunting programs

Seal skins, whether fur, harp or any other variety, have not been a major item for the fur trade for decades – mainly because of various government measures that have been based mostly on emotional issues. At the same time, however, the lack of incentive for the sealers to pursue the animals has resulted in an explosion of their populations. This, in turn, has resulted in a sharp decline in the availability of food fish for humans.

Last week, the issue took a new twist with the discovery of a letter written by Barak Obama describing the seal hunt as inhumane. The letter, written three years ago when he was a senator, was discovered in the files of a member of PeTA. In it, Obama vowed to work with colleagues “to ensure that we take all the necessary steps to express our outrage” with the Canadian government. PeTA reportedly is planning to exploit the position Obama stated at that time. There has been no comment on the letter either from Washington or Ottawa.

IN THIS ISSUE:
Anti-Sealing Issue Still Alive
Activists Not Hurting Harvest…
… but Steep Price Decline Is
EU Moves Closer to Total Ban
Fallenius to Head Finnish Auction

For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Archive. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.