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CET ARTICLE A ÉTÉ ÉCRIT PAR (Gerry Byrne, MP for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte) QU'IL A FAIT PARVENIR AU JOURNAL THE WESTERN STAR



Sets, lies and video tapeThe Western Star(Corner Brook)
Fri 22 Apr 2005
Page: 6
Section: Opinion
Byline:
Source:

Dear Editor: The scene - the pristine ice flows of the North Atlantic in
springtime. Baby seals are being hunted by the millions by barbarians
who feast on the fresh, raw meat from the kill. The ice is awash in a
sea of blood. What a set for either a movie or a news story that is
clearly going to grab world attention, newspaper headlines and donations
from around the world.

The problem? It's pure fiction. It's a picture created by dozen or so
fraud artists who pose as environmentalists and journalists and who hang
in the company of a similar gang of desperate, has-been actors and
once-known personalities seeking to rekindle fame.

It is a self-serving crowd that's prepared to make a buck on anyone's
back - including seal hunters from Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and P.E.I., as well as First Nations and aboriginal people from the north.
The eco-warriors who subscribe to fraudulent tactics can generally sum
their lives up with a few catch slogans.

But one expression that is very much entrenched in their overall seal
hunt strategy: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The tide is turning, however. A number of shocking revelations have
recently surfaced about the tactics of the eco-terrorists and the
journalists who often accompany them. And these truths are now slowly
leaking out into the mainstream media.

One, is that a journalist for a major American newspaper covering this
issue this year has been caught filing fraudulent news stories. You may
recall the world renowned New York Times recently suffered a scandal
within its own ranks when it was exposed that one of its senior news
reporters, Jayson Blair, had fabricated hundreds of news stories over a
period of several years. Facts had been deliberately misconstrued and
sources that never existed provided the evidence of wrongdoing to prove
the reporters original story. It was all lies. Innocent lives were
ruined by a reporter with an ego.

Journalism can be a messy business.

Now, it's closer to home. Too close. The equally prestigious Boston
Globe has found itself in much the same situation but this time the
topic was the Gulf of St. Lawrence seal hunt. One of their reporters
filed a story back to head office describing the brutality of the hunt,
the viciousness in the way the seals are killed and other atrocities
associated with the hunt. The problem? She was never there. The
first-hand account that was depicted in her story was made up. In
reality, she spent her whole time sitting in a Halifax hotel room
writing fiction for an audience back home in America.

Thankfully, the Boston Globe discovered it and printed a retraction and
an apology. The retraction, however, was not quite as powerful as the
original story and unfortunately the lies still appeared louder then the
truth. Death threats are still coming in against Newfoundland sealers.

Violence and blood seems to sell even when it is exposed to be as staged
as WWF wrestling.

And with that in mind, we now have a senior member of that famed gang of
artists, the Sea Sheppard Conservation Society, publicly stating that
violence and assassination threats against Canadian seal hunters is an
acceptable form of protest to the hunt that they will encourage.

I don't need to say much about this. It speaks entirely for itself.
Those who make such statements should be left to the criminal justice
system.

But one thing I will point out that it says is that the efforts of the
protesters are failing. And they know it and they are desperate.
Fundraising is obviously down, world attention is not what many thought
it would be and lies are required to overcome reality. Desperate actors
do desperate things.

Violence is now the new rage and the Sea Sheppard Society wants in.

When someone turns to violence to defeat the logic of your argument,
know at least that you are winning the debate. Know also that demand for
seal products is at an all time high, millions are being invested into
research and development of seal-derived food, pharmaceutical and
personal care products, millions of dollars are being made on a fully
sustainable, renewable resource that is helping to feed the world. And
fashion houses around the world are flaunting fur seal fur.

Paul Watson gave up on his protest trip to The Front off of
Newfoundland. That is another sign.

The message for us? Stay the course. Continue to control and to raise
seal quotas under strict adherence to scientific recommendations and
with market realities in mind. Continue to support the seal hunt and to
speak of its benefits to audiences worldwide. Don't get drawn into
public confrontation with those who would trash our culture and
integrity. Let them trash their own.

The tables have turned and the former profiteers are now the ones on the
defensive.

Let's continue to keep our distance from those who try to draw us into a
distorted, doctored video image that will be broadcast to pander to the
worst possible darkness of humanity. We can be justifiably proud of our
sealers. They have shown they are bigger people then Paul Watson or
McGuiver will ever be.

And to continue this progress, I will be asking the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans to require that the protesters keep a safer
distance from sealers on the ice flows and to provide greater
surveillance of their tactics as well.

(Gerry Byrne is MP for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte.)

________________________________

Rebecca Aldworth

Director, Canadian Wildlife Issues

Humane Society of the United States

372 St Catherine W. suite 308

Montreal, QC H3B 1A2



Ph: 514 395 2914

Cell: 514 575 6797



www.protectseals.org