La chasse au phoque au Canada / Déclaration de Shea

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Déclaration de Gail Shea, ministre des Pêches et des Océans - La chasse au phoque au Canada
Le 23 février 2011

OTTAWA – L’honorable Gail Shea, ministre des Pêches et des Océans, a fait aujourd'hui la déclaration suivante :

« Notre gouvernement appuie les activités économiques légitimes des Canadiens, ce qui inclut les 6 000 familles canadiennes qui tirent une partie de leur revenu annuel de la chasse au phoque.

La chasse au phoque au Canada s'est ouverte sur l'île Hay, en Nouvelle‑Écosse, ce qui signifie que les groupes internationaux qui s’y opposent ont intensifié leurs campagnes annuelles. Notre gouvernement n’hésitera pas à contrer leur action en rétablissant les faits.

La valeur de la chasse au phoque peut sembler négligeable aux yeux de certains, mais elle constitue chaque année une importante source de revenu pour des milliers de familles canadiennes vivant dans les collectivités côtières et nordiques éloignées. Nous allons continuer à nous assurer que ces Canadiens peuvent chasser le phoque d’une manière sûre, durable et dénuée de cruauté.

À cette fin, le ministère des Pêches et des Océans réglemente et surveille la chasse au phoque pratiquée sur l'île Hay, et ceux qui enfreignent les règles doivent répondre de leurs actes. Les méthodes de chasse sont fondées sur les recommandations d’un groupe de vétérinaires indépendants.

Il est strictement interdit de chasser les blanchons.

J’ajouterai que la population de phoque gris connaît une croissance exponentielle et dépasse maintenant les 350 000 individus. La chasse commerciale reste bien en deçà des niveaux de chasse durable fixés par les experts scientifiques.

Qu’il s’agisse de conserver les marchés traditionnels, d’ouvrir de nouveaux créneaux, ou de s’assurer que les Canadiens connaissent la vérité à propos de la chasse au phoque, le gouvernement Harper continuera de défendre les chasseurs de phoque du Canada et leur droit à gagner honnêtement leur vie. »

http://nouvelles.gc.ca/web/article-fra.do?m=/index&nid=591259

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L'autre côté de la médaille...


A Dark Day for Hay Island Grey Seals
February 25th, 2011

Photo HSI/R. Aldworth

Today was a truly awful day for grey seals. The sealers descended on Hay Island
early this morning and swung their clubs and hakapiks and shot their rifles
until all moulted pups were dead. Not content with that, they then shot at least
one adult grey seal.

DFO was up to its old tricks trying to restrict observation of the Hay Island
slaughter and as a result, by the time I got on the island, the sealers had
finished their killing spree. The carnage that I witnessed was heartbreaking. As
I walked across the island I saw small pups lying next to pools of blood where
their nursery mates had been slaughtered right in front of their eyes. I saw a
massive bull that had been shot, lying close to a female and a whitecoat. I saw
a group of sealers laughing and smiling as they worked over a pile of carcasses,
getting them ready to winch onto one of the sealing boats.

Photo: HSI/R. Aldworth
Thankfully, these unfortunate pups did not die without witnesses. Humane Society
International was on the island, as was media. I have watched the video footage
of HSI and reviewed their photographs and it was a horrible flashback to 2008
when I first witnessed the slaughter of grey seals on Hay Island. Relentless
repeated clubbing of terrified weeks-old pups in front of their nursery mates,
whitecoats crawling through pools of blood, cuddling up to dead seals, not
understanding what was happening…but there was something different this year –
the testing of the low-velocity ammunition that the director of the Fur
Institute of Canada/wildlife pathologist Daoust had wanted to conduct, claiming
he thought this would be a more humane killing method. Well, from what I've seen
and heard, it's definitely not humane. Seals had to be shot multiple times, or
clubbed after being shot. One pup flailed about crying out in pain after being
shot the first time and had to be finished off. One sealer leisurely followed a
group of terrified pups as they attempted to escape. He took his time, advancing
after them as they jostled against each other in panic to escape, before finally
shooting one. I saw a picture of one sealer tormenting a terrified pup as it sat
next to a dead pup. What sort of sick demented soul enjoys tormenting animals in
this manner? `Sick' and `demented' are two very apt words to describe Nova
Scotia sealers.

Photo: ACASC/B. Curran
My government has betrayed Nova Scotians again. The provincial government must
give permission for a slaughter to occur on Hay Island and each year they give
that permission despite the clear evidence of cruelty and unsustainability. Hay
Island is a provincial nature reserve – it does NOT belong to commercial
industry. Hay Island is held in trust for us by the government. The government
has betrayed that trust time and time again. Nova Scotians should be outraged
about this and demand their government respect their wishes and protect grey
seals in this province.

It is a comfort to know that most pups born on Hay Island this year escaped
harm, having moulted and left the island before the sealers arrived. It is also
a comfort to know the grey seal hunt in Nova Scotia is just about finished. Kill
numbers have been decreasing in past years. Baby seal killer Robert Courtney's
original claims of a buyer for the full quota of 1,900 never materialized. If
he'd had a buyer he would've been over to the island the moment DFO announced
the official start date. He wasn't held up by weather every day – there was a
window of opportunity and he didn't take it. It was a repeat of 2009 — no
markets, no buyer, so a buyer was manufactured thanks to funding from the Fur
Institute of Canada (and the federal government) to facilitate a "commercial
harvest" and dubious scientific studies. They needed to kill 100 seals for their
experiment this year, and they killed approximately 100 seals. What a
coincidence.


Photo: ACASC/B. Curran

Gail Shea recently said, "To this end, the Hay Island grey seal harvest is
properly regulated and effectively monitored, and those who break the rules are
held to account." Reviewing the HSI video shot today, I saw violations of the
Marine Mammal Regulations and saw no sealers "held to account" for those
violations. Shea is misleading the public into believing seals are hampering
fish stock recovery and growing exponentially. Neither is true. Shea has the
nerve to call us liars while she continues to spread untruths to Canadians. She
is the ultimate hypocrite and should be removed from her position immediately.

There is no future for the sealing industry in Canada. It is finished. But the
government fights on, with an endless supply of taxpayer dollars, lavishing
millions on a crumbling industry that employs a tiny fraction of the population
of the country, putting our international reputation, tourism industry and free
trade talks with the EU at risk. To continue killing seals flies in the face of
science, logic and compassion. There is simply no logic to it. It is a grudge
match, nothing more. The Canadian government simply does not want to admit
defeat and do the decent thing.

Tonight I reflect with sadness upon those poor souls slaughtered so mercilessly
today on Hay Island and vow that in the coming year I will work harder than ever
to ensure this never happens again.



http://antisealingcoalition.ca/blog/2011/a-dark-day-for-hay-island-grey-seals/