Canadian seal hunters bemoan low prices

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Canadian seal hunters bemoan low prices


April 7, 2008

ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland, April 7 (UPI) -- Some Canadian seal hunters in Newfoundland say they aren't sure low pelt prices and high gas costs make going to sea worthwhile later this month.

While hunting resumed Monday off New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the upcoming hunt along Newfoundland's northeastern shore isn't as appealing to seasonal fishermen, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Fisherman Jim King told the broadcaster buyers are offering $35 per pelt this year, about half of previous years' prices

"It looks like they're (buyers) going to drop the price this year to subsidize the poor quality of pelts that were landed in the last couple years, at too high a price," he said. "So it looks like this is payback."

Further south, a hunt that opened a week ago Sunday was stopped when the Department Fisheries and Oceans claimed the quota of 1,300 seals had been killed, but it later determined 1,000 had been taken. The hunt was allowed to resume Monday for the balance of 300, the CBC said.

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N.L. tannery operator says seal pelts selling for about half of last


April 7, 2008

CATALINA, N.L. — Seal hunters can expect to pocket about $33 for a top-grade pelt this year - about half the price it would have fetched last year, a Newfoundland seal product processor said Monday.

Dion Dakins, sales director for NuTan Furs Inc., said the revival of a grading system is to blame for the drop.


In 2007, without the grading system, sealers were getting $62 per pelt. The year before, competition among buyers saw prices spike at $105.


"We got a little bit excited as buyers . . . and paid too much on raw material, and now it's a correction in market value," Dakins said from his office in Catalina, on Newfoundland's east coast.


"We wound up with some lower-grade skins that we actually couldn't sell into a tightening market for higher quality."


Dakins said North American buyers are also mindful of a proposed ban on seal products across Europe.


"That's certainly playing in our decision-making," he said.


The EU's environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, is considering a ban amid mounting pressure from animal rights groups. He's expected to make a recommendations before summer.


Last week, Canadian politicians and sealers met with European officials in a bid to dissuade them from imposing a ban.


Frank Pinhorn, executive director of the Canadian Sealers Association, said hunters are aware of the sagging prices, but that won't stop seasoned sealers from heading to the floes.


"It is (a concern) to a point, but a lot of sealers are getting their boats ready," he said, referring to the fact that the season opens this Saturday in Newfoundland, where 70 per cent of the seals are taken.


"That's the hard-core sealers that have always kept the industry alive when everyone else had given up on it. I think most of our sealers will be going out."


The annual East Coast seal hunt, the largest such hunt in the world, started late last month in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.


Federal Fisheries officials have set this year's total allowable catch at 275,000 harp seals, up from 270,000 last year.


Pinhorn said some hunters may decide not to join the hunt for other reasons, including the rising cost of fuel and heavy ice.


Despite the drop in pelt prices, Dakins said he believes there's still cash to be made this season.


"There's still going to be money in it for good, well-established sealers that are close to the harvest," he said. "I think they'll still make money this year and hopefully we'll do the same."


Phil Jenkins, a federal Fisheries Department spokesman, said only 2,900 seals have been taken so far - a relatively small number for a hunt that started March 28.


Jenkins said the hunt was largely stopped last week when sealers from Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., called off their season early after the deaths of at least three sealers.


The hunters were killed March 29 when their disabled vessel, L'Acadien II, capsized north of Cape Breton as it was being towed by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.


Two men survived the sinking, while another sealer remains missing and is presumed dead.

Canadian Press

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http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=428585

April 7, 2008


Maritime sealers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. are returning to the ice Monday after federal officials reopened the season.


The season, which opened last weekend, had been closed after the Department of Fisheries and Oceans determined the sealers had already reached their quota of 1,399 seals.


It was later determined that the commercial sealers had only killed just over 1,000 seals, said DFO spokesperson Luc Legere.


Commercial hunters have until 8 p.m. local time Monday to reach their quota. Aboriginal hunters had until last night to reach their quota of 1,620 seals, but according to Legere, they were well short of that quota at closing time.


This year, hunters have had a hard time getting to the seals because of thick, hard-packed ice blocking the way. "A lot of the boats are just having trouble getting to the seal herds," Legere said. This is in contrast to last year, when there was barely any ice, which also caused problems for the sealers.


Hunters from Quebec's Magdalen Islands may also be back on the ice later this week, weather permitting, Legere said. The sealers cut short their hunt after four of their crew were killed when the 12-metre Magdalen Islands sealer L'Acadien II sank while under tow by a coast guard ship March 29.