In the digital age, local issues have increasingly become global. The Canadian East Coast commercial seal slaughter -- the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world -- is a case in point. Footage of live gaffing, injured seals escaping into the water to die slowly, and piles of baby seal carcasses left to rot on the ice have resulted in international condemnation and officials in global markets rejecting these products of cruelty.
And with recent bans on the trade in harp seal skins in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, what little market remained for the Canadian sealing industry following the 2009 European Union prohibition on seal product trade has now been eliminated. Let's not forget that the United States, Mexico and others have also implemented similar bans, and despite millions in taxpayer dollars spent by the federal government, markets in China have failed to materialize.
With so many international markets closed, one of the largest Canadian seal processing companies, NuTan Furs Inc., announced it would stop processing seals and shift its operations to other products. Yet in an unbelievably irresponsible move, the government of Newfoundland announced on April 5 that it will provide $3.6 million to subsidize the foreign-owned Carino Processing Limited so that they will now add to the 400,000 seal furs already reportedly stockpiled in warehouses around the globe.
This additional subsidy is a fraction of the cost that taxpayers will be picking up this year to sustain the dying commercial seal slaughter. Additional taxpayer money is used for, among other things, Coast Guard support for the seal hunt including icebreaking services, grants to seal product processors and marketers, and costly international legal challenges to try to reverse seal product trade bans.
These government handouts will not be enough to hold back the other reason this slaughter will end. Climate change has caused a steady deterioration in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off of the front of Newfoundland. Harp seals depend on sea ice for whelping, and according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, harp seal pup mortality in areas where ice does not form or breaks up too early can be as high as 100 per cent.
Climate change not only causes high mortality in harp seals. Ultimately, it will cause the sea ice -- and surviving seals on it -- to recede north, beyond the range of the commercial sealing industry.
The end of the commercial sealing industry is inevitable. It's time to take the politics out of the debate and redirect wasted taxpayer-supported subsidies to buy out the sealing licenses and to provide truly sustainable economic development programs to affected rural communities on the East Coast of Canada.
The economic and climate change realities are not lost on those actually doing the sealing. A 2010 poll revealed that half of Newfoundland sealers who expressed an opinion actually supported a sealing industry buyout. What is now needed is a sealing industry push to compel the political leadership at the provincial and federal levels to make it a reality.
Economic and environmental realities are aligning the interests of sealers and animal protection groups. Canada can move beyond commercial sealing, but only when our two sides stand together with a united message: The government must buy out sealing licenses and fund a transition to new and sustainable industries. When this happens, everybody on both sides will wonder why it took so long to come to such a sensible outcome.
The statement is factually incorrect and scientifically ill informed. Many species are unable to adapt to change and ultimately slide to extinction. This is a biological fact that is well documented.
The romanticized image of the noble, hard working Atlantic fisherman is just that; it is an image. The reality is that of highly subsidized and inefficient fisheries, with many fisherman working a relative few weeks in order to collect unemployment insurance the rest of the year. Local politicians fall over themselves pandering to this system in an effort to gain votes. And the rewards are significant for those who have learned how to game the rules (eg. when I lived in Halifax in the late 1980's some fisherman would purchase one lonely fish at the local supermarket, and then take it to the docks so that it counted as "one day fished" toward their unemployment insurance quota..).
The seal bashing industry is merely a vote-buying gimmick. Nothing more. This industry will die, but not before the local politicians have milked every single vote that the current system (and taxpayers) will tolerate. Then, and only then will we be rid of a Canadian seal-bashing industry.
"' now this is a real fairy tale and a red flag indicating that you are a subscriber to one of those protest groups.....
Oh, and seal bashing is not an "industry"; it is nothing more than an annual taxpayer-subsidized boondoggle meant to placate those who have long thought that the pogey is their birthright.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_gTBDFTXE0
Also, since when are animals innocent. What are the guilty animals? Most people are not informed about the seal hunt. What information they get comes from HSUS, PETA, SSCS etc web pages. The information here is stilted toward pulling at heart strings and maximizing donations....
I always wondered about the PIP grants (petroleum incentive program) whereas the government (taxpayers) paid 95% of explorarion costs for the oil companies to operate in the north and develope the offshore oil and gas, and in the 80`s when this was happening it cost about half million a day to keep a drill rig operating.
So for all you people whining about the seal hunt, get real, is going to die soon so let it be-Im sure there are other issues you can champion and maybe even pick up some support.
50% of the people posting on these particular pages dont have the foggiest idea what they are talking about- only interest is to promote some stupid adgenda ie- "the seal hunt".
The seal hunt has been slowly dying for the last 25 years- forget it.
3.6 million is a lot of money to the majority but not to governments! the governments waste that on a daily basis, at least this money puts some people to work.
What is your problem-you like cute little things? maybe its a slow week and you cant come up with your idea of something to complain about?
The great irony of the seal hunt to 'save' the 'baby' seals has ultimately achieved nothing. With mortality rates that as was mentioned reaching 100% with the ice dissapearing faster, ultimately what was accomplished? Nothing.
Not to mention calling it the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world is completely disingenuous. The seal population never was in threat of being wiped out, so amazingly since there's a lot of seals, a lot of them can be hunted (oh sorry, slaughtered) for their pelts and meat. Why don't you spend your time focusing on an industry that isn't dying: Killing whales.
This war was already won, no one buys anything related to seals anymore; get over it. White baby seals aren't being clubbed to death anymore, you won; the industry is dead. Though of course don't let that stop you all from using the white seal pup's image so you can still bang the drums about the evil sealing industry.
Seals diet includes 3% cod and the other 97% is made up of all kinds of other fish and squid and jellyfish and smelt, and includes fish that are themselves predators of young cod. So in fact, seals do cod stocks a good turn by getting rid of some of the predators that take them. Too bad they can't deal with sealers as easily.
http://archive.nafo.int/open/studies/s21/lawson.pdf
I'm sure I can think of various things that can be demonized to convince people in other provinces to shut it down.
Our federal system is not build for national referendums, which is why they don't ever happen for any reason.
Yes, they could move to Alberta to work in the "ethical" tar sands - Canada's national PRIDE AND JOY!!! There must be a half a million of them already there so they would know lots of people.
There are about 40,000 people in NL and about 30,000 in Alberta receiving EI benefits. If Alberta has that many jobs, why are 30,000 people on EI in that province? If the remaining 40,000 EI recipients from NL moved to Alberta, wouldn't unemployed Albertan's be a little choked? There are approx. 700,000 people in Canada receiving EI benefits. Surely they would all be jealous if 40,000 Newfies got jobs in Alberta and they got nothing?