| No longer a "whitecoat" because its white hair is beginning to molt, this 12-day-old "raggedy-jacket" is now legal for slaughter. |
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stop the
Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt
Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt |
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The Canadian commercial seal hunt is the largest and cruelest marine mammal slaughter in the world. In 2006, 354,344 seals —mostly pups less than 3 months old— were bludgeoned, shot, and skinned to feed the vanity, whims and greed of the fashion fur and exotic leather industries and their customers, or to provide meat and oils for which there is little demand or market. Over a three year period, between 2001 and 2005, over one million seals were reported killed during the hunt. Background on the European seal product ban Background on the European seal product ban: Hundreds of millions of people in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and the thousands of NGOs who promote their interests applauded the European Parliament’s 550-49 vote on May 5, 2009 in favor of a ban on the importation of seal products into the 27 member states of the European Union. The legislative journey to the successful vote began with the personal initiative of one European legislator, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Carl Schlyter. Schlyter made common cause with fellow MEPs Paulo Casaca, Karl-Heinz Florenz, Mojca Drcar Murko and Caroline Lucas. They were joined by some of the world’s largest and most effective animal protection organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and a coalition of European groups. Together, the politicians and the NGOs created a wellspring of overwhelming public support. More importantly, however, they proved in the most rigorous political, public, and media fora under intense cross-examination and unrelenting scrutiny that the case for commercial seal hunting was not based on sound humane, scientific, and conservation principles nor that it is economically important as the sealing nations, particularly Canada, argued. The NGOs showed that sealing policy is determined by political opportunism and disregard for all other considerations. Working together, the politicians and NGOs showed that commercial seal hunting is inherently and unavoidably cruel, that it cannot be managed successfully, that seal populations cannot be estimated with the certainty necessary to manage commercial sealing in such a way as to insure the survival of seal species or seals’ continuing biological significance in the marine ecosystem, and, finally, that seal products are of little economic importance to Canada. In the end, Canada and the other three major sealing nations Greenland, Norway, and Namibia were unable to demonstrate the validity of any of their assertions. Their arguments were reduced to emotional pleas, misinformation, personal attacks on their opponents, disparagement of the integrity and intelligence of European legislators, and trade threats against the European Union. The falsity and disingenuousness of Canada’s pro-seal hunt arguments and lobbying campaign are reflected in the overwhelming vote in favor of the ban. The European legislators’ votes were as much a rebuke of Canada as they were an endorsement of the protection of seals and a European Union seal product ban. The ban will go into effect at the beginning of 2010, but it is already impacting the world’s last remaining commercial seal hunts in Canada, Norway, Greenland and Namibia. Fewer seals are being slaughtered this year than last. The Canadian commercial seal hunt—the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world—will claim the lives of about 60,000 seals this year compared with about 220,000 in 2007 and 2008. Despite the European ban, Canada's commercial seal hunt is far from over. The Canadian government is preparing to challenge the European ban at the World Trade Organization and is actively seeking new markets. Consequently, animal protection organizations must continue to pressure the Canadian government to vote to end the hunt. The Canadian Seafood Boycott is one of the tools that a coalition or organizations are using to continue to apply pressure to the Canadian government. An American boycott of Canadian seafood applies an economic penalty to Canadian fishermen, who also kill seals and whose governing federal and provincial agencies so assiduously promote and defend the hunt. Kill the profits, and the Canadian government, the sealing industry, and the fishing industry will kill the commercial hunt. The idea for the Canadian Seafood Boycott came from a growing frustration among Canadian animal and environmental protection activists with the lack of progress made by the anti-sealing movement toward ending Canada's commercial seal hunt. One of these activists, Stephen Best, founder of Environment Voters (EV) and, a veteran of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's anti-seal hunt campaign (1984-1985) wrote in his 2002 appraisal of the anti-sealing movement:
Realizing the benefits of a campaign that would change the political realities of Canada's commercial seal hunt, Best developed a strategy for influencing Canadian Seal Hunt Policy. He prepared a document outlining the strategy for the Directors of AAC and EV titled Influencing Canadian Seal Hunt Policy with a Consumer Boycott of Canadian Seafood and presented it to the Board of Directors. Today the Canadian Seafood Boycott campaign consists of an ad hoc alliance of the most powerful international, national and grassroots animal and environmental protection organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States, Born Free USA united with The Animal Protection Institute, and the International Wildlife Coalition. As the campaign progresses, more organizations continue to join. For those who wanted to enjoy the thrill of the Olympics but didn’t wish to put their commitment to the Canadian Seafood Boycott Protect Our Seals campaign on hold, there was great news. Twelve Vancouver restaurants have pledged not to purchase some or all of their seafood from Canada’s east coast, where hundreds of thousands of seal pups are slaughtered annually. In the past, this initiative has focused on restaurants in the United States, because it is the largest importer of Canadian seafood. But, because of the Olympics and the huge influx into Canada of Europeans who oppose the seal hunt, it was important to gain support among the restaurants and chefs in Vancouver. AAC had the experience and skills to bring the campaign to Vancouver. In just a few days, they brought in pledges from an impressive and diverse group of eating establishments from around the city. While some of these restaurants had decided before signing the AAC pledge form not to purchase east coast seafood, they have now formally promised to avoid it until east coast fishermen stop killing seal pups for their fur. These restaurants and chefs all deserve medals for taking a stand against the hunt. We recognize that it’s a very courageous thing for them to do. We encourage people to visit these restaurants to thank them for their support, and reward their show of compassion by sitting down to enjoy a great meal:
The next venue in the campaign to protect the world’s seal populations must be the politicians in Congress and the Senate of the United States of America. What was accomplished recently for seal protection in Europe must be built upon in the United States because of its overall importance to the Canadian economy. Failure to implement a “Washington Strategy”, as history has shown, will likely result in a loss of all the gains made in Europe and increased threats to seals. Despite the apparent success of the European ban and the immediate reduction in seal mortality, the world’s seal hunts are not over, and the world’s seals are not yet safe. Politicians in the sealing nations will likely continue to subsidize the hunts. They may even increase the subsidies, as they have done in the past, for political advantage. Such subsidies are low cost because seal hunts are of minimal economic value, and they return enormous personal political benefits for politicians who promote them. Consequently, they are politically very attractive. Former Canadian fisheries minister Brian Tobin’s electoral successes are evidence of the political benefits of governments subsidizing commercial sealing operations. In order to end the commercial exploitation of seals, it is not enough to merely close markets. Strong economic sanctions are required that will directly affect countries that fail to prohibit commercial sealing and, as importantly, individuals who engage in sealing operations. To that end, the United States Congress offers the best opportunity to put an end to commercial sealing worldwide. The Congress, under the United States Constitution, has the legislative competency to pass domestic legislation, or amend existing legislation, that would give the US government the authority to ban or restrict the importation of fisheries products from nations whose marine conservation policies are inconsistent with those of the United States. Canada, for example, exports almost 80% of its fisheries products to the United States. Canadian politicians and the sealing industry (which is pursued almost entirely by commercial fishing interests) argue that the seal hunt is necessary to preserve Canada’s fisheries. Massive killings of marine mammals to protect fisheries is inconsistent with U.S. law and established science and conservation principles. If the United States Congress can be convinced to pass such legislation, Canadian, Norwegian, Greenland, and Namibian politicians would have the necessary political rationale to end their respective seal hunts. The onus is on American environmental and animal protection NGOs to work with Congressional leaders and raise the necessary public support to enable Congress to pass the legislation that will end seal hunting worldwide.
On March 24, 2009, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations passed Senate Resolution that reads as follows:
The House of Representatives passed a similar resolution (H. Res. 427 [110th]) in 2007. The Senate and the House resolutions are a reflection of the American public’s will. According to one public opinion poll, “Seventy-nine percent of American voters oppose Canada's seal kill.” (http://www.hsicanada.ca/wildlife/seals/fast-facts-commercial_seal_hunt.html) It will be a difficult campaign. There will be many obstacles to success. Some concern trade agreements. Others involve the U.S.’s close ties to Canada. Opposition can be expected from various industries. All of these barriers existed in the European experience, and thanks to public support, the work of the NGOs, and key politicians championing the cause, they were all overcome. The first step in the “Washington Strategy” is canvassing the interest of Congressional legislators. If some are willing to champion a “Washington Strategy“ to save the seals, success is likely assured. The European seal product ban began with the initiative of one determined politician, so too will the “Washington Strategy” need its leaders in Congress in order to succeed. As many of you know, Liberal Senator Mac Harb made history by introducing a private member's bill on March 3rd, 2009, calling for an end to the Canadian commercial seal hunt. Senator Harb has asked for help to flood Canada's Senate with messages of support. We need another senator to second his bill so that the issue may be discussed in the House. Please, call and write the Senators, and urge them to do everything in their power to end the Canadian commercial seal hunt. Hand-written letters are best, but you can also print our sign-on letter by clicking here. Letters can be mailed postage-free to Senator Harb. The Honourable Mac Harb Tel: 613-996-2379 e-mail: harbsealbill@sen.parl.gc.ca See a list of things you can do to help stop the seal slaughter. |