Seal Song: The Canadian Seal Slaughter

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    IFAW had shifted its organizational strategy to Europe — the site of the bulk of the market for seal products at the time. In 1982, after receiving petitions signed by several million of their constituents, the European Parliament adopted a resolution by a vote of 160 to 10 to ban trade in products derived from young harp and hooded seals.
    What happened next is well known. The European Economic Community followed the resolution, and instituted a two-year ban on the importation of products from harp and hooded seal pups on October 1, 1983. This decision was upheld upon review in 1985. The effect of the ban on the commercial seal hunt was dramatic and immediate. Landed catches decreased to an average of 36,000 animals per year between 1983 and 1987.
    Kill rates continued in this fashion for several years. However, the introduction of a seal meat subsidy in 1995 by the Canadian government caused the official number of seals killed to rise sharply again in 1996 to nearly 250,000. The quota increased from 186,000 in 1994 and 1995, to 250,000 in 1996, to 275,000 for the last 4 years. [TOP]

What species of seals are hunted?
    Although harp seals are the primary focus of the commercial hunt, a smaller number of hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) are also commercially hunted each year. Other species of seals, including ringed, harbor, grey, and bearded, are also killed in non-commercial hunts.
    The harp seal belongs to a group of mammals known as pinnipeds (meaning web-footed), which includes the true seals, fur seals, sea lions and walruses. Northwest Atlantic harp seals are migratory, spending the summer months in waters between Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic, and the winter months in the waters off the east coast of Canada. They begin the trip south in late September, appearing off the coast of Labrador and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in late December and early January.
     In February and March, harp seals congregate in extensive patches to give birth to their pups on the ice off of Newfoundland (the “Front”) and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (the “Gulf”). These congregations are known as whelping patches. [TOP]

What legislation regulates the seal hunt?
    The Marine Mammal Regulations, which fall under Canada's Fisheries Act, are the main piece of federal legislation pertaining to the seal hunt. These regulations supposedly govern, among other things, the ways in which seals can be killed and the weapons that can be used. However, a lack of enforcement of these regulations means that even the minor protection offered to seals is ignored.
    Unnecessarily cruel behavior by sealers is also prohibited by the Criminal Code of Canada, which states: "Everyone commits an offence who (a) willfully causes [...] unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal or bird." [TOP]

Documented cruelty
    Footage of the hunt gathered each year by the International Fund for Animal Welfare consistently shows violations of animal protection laws contained in Canada’s Criminal Code. While there are Marine Mammal Regulations in place that supposedly govern the ways in which the animals are killed, they are virtually ignored, and are rarely enforced. [TOP]

Video evidence over the past five years has shown live seals:

• being skinned or bled alive
  
• being left to die in stockpiles of dead and dying animals
  
• being dragged with boathooks across the ice for long distances
  
• being fatally shot and then left to suffer for many minutes
  
• being clubbed to death with illegal weapons
  
• being kicked and stomped by sealers
  

    The Marine mammal regulations state that sealers must conduct a “blink reflex test” in order to ensure that a seal is dead before moving on to the next. However, sealers rarely perform this precaution, and as a result, seals can be skinned alive. [TOP]

How are hunt regulations enforced?
    The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has the responsibility for enforcing hunt regulations, and claims that: "Humane practices are supported by industry and strictly enforced by DFO. Penalties are among the toughest in the world" (source: Understanding the Seal Fishery, DFO).
    But in reality, the enforcement efforts of DFO have come under increasing criticism. In 1998, for example, Dr. Mary Richardson, a respected veterinarian who has been Chair of the Animal Care Review Board for the Solicitor-General of Ontario, Director of Animal Welfare for the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and Animal Welfare Committee Member for the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association was quoted as saying:

I have now reviewed new video evidence obtained by IFAW during the 1998 commercial seal hunt. Even though a full year has passed since the 1997 footage was released, it is clear that the DFO, which is responsible for monitoring this hunt, and the Canadian Sealers' Association, which promotes this hunt as well-regulated, have done nothing to ensure that seals are not suffering and that the relevant provisions of the Marine Mammal Regulations and the Criminal Code of Canada are upheld. (Source: Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt, 1998 Investigation, IFAW) [TOP]

How many sealers take part in the hunt?
    DFO states, "In recent years, commercial licenses issued to sealers averaged 9,000 per year. In 1999, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) issued 10,518 commercial sealing licenses" (source: Atlantic Seal Hunt, 2000 Management Plan, DFO). It is important to note, however, that only a small fraction of licensed commercial sealers actually participate in the seal hunt. In Newfoundland, for instance, there were only approximately 600 active sealers in 1996 (source: Newfoundland Region 1996 Seal Fishery Activity Report, DFO). [TOP]

Where and when does the hunt take place?
Although the movement of ice floes and ice conditions often determines the degree of hunting effort in any given area, the majority of the seal hunt occurs on the Front, off the north and east coasts of Newfoundland, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the Magdalen Islands and Prince Edward Island. [TOP]

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