Sealers, protesters head to Gulf for hunt

[Animal 0]

Sealers, protesters head to Gulf for hunt
CTV.ca News Staff

Seal hunters return to the ice floes off Canada's East Coast this week to continue a three-year harvest, despite the protests of those who say the hunt is a cruel and needless slaughter.

The hunt runs from Nov. 15 until May 15, but most of the hunting is done now, in the spring. Sealers will head for the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the Magdalen Islands this week with more hunters descending on the ice floes off Newfoundland on April 12.

Fishermen are expected to kill more than 300,000 harp and hooded seals by the time this season ends, the last season for a three-year federal plan that allowed sealers to harvest a total of 975,000 seals.

Rebecca Aldworth, director of Canadian wildlife issues at the U.S. Humane Society calls the hunt "inherently cruel," noting that 95 per cent of the pups killed are under just three months of age.

She told Canada AM Monday that the pups are killed in brutal ways because hunters are under pressure to work quickly and because no one is supervising their methods.

"Sealers are killed per seal and they kill as many as they can and as quickly as they can. Humane considerations are the last thing you take into consideration," she said from Charlottetown.

"It's conducted over hundreds of miles of ocean with many small boats; it would be a practical impossibility to monitor this hunt. On top of that, I would question whether there is the will on the part of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to enforce the regulations protecting seals."

The Fisheries Department notes that changes to the seal hunt have been made since the 1970s when images of white baby seals being killed for their fur sparked outrage. In 1987, the hunting of harp seal pups younger than three weeks old, known as "whitecoats" and hooded seal pups known as "bluebacks" was made illegal.

The federal government also argues that seal hunting methods were studied by the Royal Commission on Sealing in Canada. The commission found that the clubbing of seals is at least as humane as, and often more humane than, the killing methods used in commercial slaughterhouses or abattoirs.

Ottawa also argues that the seal hunt boosts the economy of coastal towns and villages where few other economic opportunities exist. They note that with more than five million seals on the East Coast -- triple the number of three decades ago -- the hunt is sustainable.

Even seal hunters themselves say the hunt is necessary, arguing that seals and their voracious appetites for the decline in cod stocks.

But the Humane Society of the United States is pressing ahead with calls for a boycott of Canadian seafood.

The group says 75 per cent of Canadian seafood is exported to the United States, generating more than $3 billion annually. They say a successful boycott could damage the Canadian economy.

Aldworth says her group wants the support of both average Canadians and fishermen.

"Several months ago, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans told us the only way it will end is if Canada's fishing industry asks them to end it. By that they mean everybody in the sector. We're asking people to work with us to call Geoff Regan, the (fisheries) minister and demand that he put a final end to Canada's commercial seal hunt."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1112018128563_98/?hub=CanadaAM

[Animal 0]

New Zealand Herald


Dead seals on the ice yesterday. Picture / Reuters


03.04.05
by Patrick Crewdson and NZPA


A former New Zealand resident involved in a violent clash with sealers
in Canada is calling on Kiwis to help stamp out the "barbaric" hunting
of marine mammals.

Lisa Shalom, 23, and 10 other crew members of the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society vessel Farley Mowat were arrested yesterday while
trying to take pictures of seals being killed.

Speaking from the Farley Mowat, off the coast of Prince Edward Island
in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Ms Shalom said the crew had been assaulted
on the ice by eight sealers carrying clubs and pickaxes. "The moment
they saw us they threatened us with their hak-a-piks, they were
verbally abusive, and their fists were flying," Ms Shalom said.

"They knew we were opposed to what they were doing and they were
completely indignant about it."

The sealers were not arrested, but the anti-seal hunt activists, who Ms
Shalom said stayed non-violent, were charged with violating seal
protection regulations by approaching within half a nautical mile of a
hunt.

The activists were released without bail to face a later court
appearance. They face a $1000 fine or a three-month jail term. Some of
the anti-hunt protesters were treated for minor injuries.

Canada’s harp seal hunt, target of protests since the 1960s, began last
week when thousands of sealers headed for the ice floes off eastern
Canada. The seal hunt brings in millions of dollars for poor coastal
communities, but is condemned by animal rights activists as barbaric.
"The tools they use are primitive, hooks on the end of sticks, and they
just bash the cubs over the head," said Ms Shalom.

"Some of them don’t even die after several blows, they’re just dragged
across the ice to the boats where they are skinned alive and have their
carcasses thrown back on the ice into a bloody pile."

Ms Shalom said New Zealanders could help by lobbying for an end for
seal hunting. "Any energy that anyone can put into it is much
appreciated," she said.

The Canadian came to New Zealand two-and-a-half years ago after a
voyage to Antarctica and was active in peace, animal rights and
environmental groups.