Gail Shea defends decision as science-based

[Animal 0]

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/seal-03-24-2010

Gail Shea defends decision as science-based
http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/seal-03-24-2010

Despite poor ice conditions and a slumping seal market—thanks in large
part to a European Union ban on the import of products starting this
year—the government last week announced a 50,000-increase in this
year's seal hunt quota.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea says the decision to increase the total
allowable catch for harp, hooded and grey seals to 388,200 was based
on science. However, sealers and animal rights activists believe the
decision was political—including an attempt to send a message to the EU.

Last year, 74,581 harp seals were killed out of a total quota of
280,000, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. That
number is strikingly lower than the 217,857 harp seals killed in 2008.

Eldred Woodford, president of the Canadian Sealers' Association, said
he was not surprised by the minister's decision to increase the quota
since he knows the seal population has been increasing.

The current seal population estimate stands at 6.9 million, more than
triple what it was in the 1970s, according to the department.

However, from the point of view of the industry, the decision makes no
sense because the market continues to be very weak and ice conditions
are very poor, he said.

In fact, Mr. Woodford explains that during last January's
consultations with department officials, sealers and processors had
requested a rollover from last year's quota, since hunters were not
able to meet that year's numbers.

"I think it's more political than anything else," Mr. Woodford said.
"There have been a lot of arguments in Europe that we were going to
destroy the seal population. This is a means for Canada to present to
the world its case that we are not dealing with a species that is
threatened."

"Everybody requested a rollover and instead we got an increase," he
added. " At this point, [the quota] is just an arbitrary number that
we all know is not going to be reached this year."

The situation was the exact opposite in 2008, when Mr. Woodford said
the government did not hike the quota enough, despite sealers'
requests. In March 2008, the department raised the quota only by 5,000
to allow a total harvest of 275,000 seals.

"When we had good markets, they did not allow us to kill them, and now
that we have bad markets, they're increasing the quota," he said.
"It's a little bit frustrating in that matter."

Bridget Curran, director of the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing
Coalition, said the minister's decision is the most recent in a series
of recent public relations stunts. She pointed to the Governor General
Michaëlle Jean's tasting of raw seal heart last May, and to serving of
seal on Parliament Hill.

"By increasing the quota, [the department] is thumbing its nose at the
European Commission," she said. "They are also trying to make it
seem...that they are facilitating the sealers to do what they want."

"It's a politically-motivated and entirely senseless and irresponsible
response," Ms. Curran said. "It makes absolutely no sense and her
decision is even being criticized in the sealers community."

Increasing the quota also goes against the advice scientists gave
officials last year, said Edward Miller, biology professor at Memorial
University in Newfoundland.

A review of the total allowable catch for harp seals prepared by the
Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat showed that a potential harvest
of 270,000 animals in 2009 "may require a substantial reduction to
less than 175,000 animals in 2010 to respect the management plan."

"[The department's] proposal is scientifically ludicrous," Mr. Miller
said. "This is just a proclamation without any explanation, without
any doorway through which any thinking citizen of Canada can enter to
know why. If you are going to increase my taxes, you are going to give
me an explanation, but here it's just a pronouncement."

Ms. Shea said setting the quota for total allowable catch is something
the department does every single year. The decision is based on
science and is meant to ensure the seal hunting industry remains
sustainable, she said, pointing to the growing seal population and to
last year's low harvest number, which was far from meeting the quota.

Ms. Shea dismissed critics' accusations the move was political.

"If it was a political move, we could have put the total allowable
catch at 1 million seals, but we didn't," Ms. Shea said. "[This] was
not a message to anyone. We don't agree with what the European Union
has done, but we'll deal with that in another forum."

Although this quota exists, it's the ice conditions and the weather
that will determine the size of the hunt this year, the minister said.

Seal hunters have been complaining about poor ice conditions, which
may keep some of them on dry land during this hunt season.

"We have to set a total allowable catch regardless of what the seal
hunt looks like," Ms. Shea said. "This is one of the worst years on
the record. The seal hunt, we expect, will probably be much smaller
than in the past."

Market prices for pelts have also dropped substantially in the last
few years, said Mr. Woodford.

"Seal fur is a high-end commodity and with a downturn in the global
economy, it's one of those products that faced a declining market," he
said. "I'm also a fisherman and I'm concerned the government is not
trying to promote this industry better and try to find new markets for
these products."

But this is exactly what the government is doing, Ms. Shea said.

She described the seal industry as being at a crossroad. In the past,
seals were hunted just for pelts, Ms. Shea explained, but now we see a
diversification of products through the use of seal meat and oil, and
ongoing research on potential transplants of seal heart valves to
humans.

More so, after the EU's ban on seal product imports, Canada has since
been wooing China—and the minister says things are developing in the
right direction.

"We're waiting to get the green light to be able to export meat and
oil into China," Ms. Shea said. "This is very exciting, because that's
a huge, huge market. We're going full-speed ahead to try to develop
this industry to the full potential it has."