July
1995
The
Sealing Industry in Canada
By Alix Fano
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In
the first of her two articles, journalist Alix Fano related the
horrific incident in the Magdalen Islands in Canada where Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society’s Paul Watson was almost killed by irate
sealers (see Satya 12). In this article, she explores the state of Canada’s
seal industry.
It has become very clear as a result of the incident in Magdalen Islands,
and the inertia of the Canadian authorities in acting upon the outrageous
attack on Paul Watson and others, that the Canadian government is not
only pro-sealing, but has nationally condoned mob rule and its accompanying
lawlessness, and endorsed violence against wildlife and human beings.
Fittingly, it was Gandhi who said that the greatness of a nation and
its moral progress c an be judged by the way its animals are treated.
In Canada, seals, who have a natural life span of approximately 30 years,
are considered a “resource” like anything else. Seal
hunting is done 2 to 4 weeks out of each year, mostly on the West side
of the Atlantic coast, and is legally sanctioned in every Canadian province
and territory. 90-95% of the seals that are hunted are harp seals, and
5-10% are hooded seals; species like the harbor seal, and the California
sea lion, which live in the East, have traditionally not been hunted.
Dr. David Lavigne, noted seal expert at the University of Guelph in
Canada explains that seals are not regarded as mammals in Canada, but
as fish, since they are “managed” under the centuries-old
Canadian Fisheries Act. As a result, no laws exist to govern the ways
in which seals are “harvested.” Tina Fagan, Executive Director
of the Canadian Sealers Association, stated that while the club, hak-a-pik
(a sort of pick-axe), and rifle are all legal seal-killing tools, the
most common method of killing seals is a shot to the head. Fagan admitted
however that sealers are not required to report the methods they use.
According to Lavigne, the government has already admitted to selling
10,000 seal penises to China in 1994. The penises sell as aphrodisiacs
for $170 each in Asia, where demand is particularly high in Hong Kong.
A press release issued by IFAW on April 9, 1995, said that Canada wants
China to become a partner in the seal products trade, given the closing
of U.S. markets under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
In fact, says David Lavigne, the hunts are shrouded in secrecy and are
off limits to the general public. Special “observer permits”
are given out only occasionally and at the government’s discretion;
the press rarely gets them, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare
(IFAW) was denied one.
That may be why the general public has been duped into believing that
seal pups or “white coats” are no longer being killed. Though
Tina Fagan stated that it is illegal to kill seal pups or white coats,
sealers have gotten around the law through an age-related technicality.
Hap Wilson, a London-based writer who covered the March riot in the
Magdalen Islands with Bob Hunter of CITY-TV, posed as a businessman
interested in promoting seal hunting to get information, and convinced
a sealer to take him along for a hunt. Wilson said that seal pups are
still being killed; only now, sealers wait until the pups are between
2 and 4 weeks old, when their black roots begin to show. Indeed Lavigne
states that between 1972 and 1993, 80% of the seals caught were pups.
In 1994, the statistics changed because of government efforts to fuel
the market for seal parts. As a result, last year 35% of the seals caught
were pups and 65% were older animals.
No Money, Only Shame
Hap Wilson believes that sealing is not only a national shame but an
economic dead end. Simple math can confirm the latter. According to
IFAW, Norway has already captured 50% of the seal parts market. The
Canadians’ share represents a meager U.S. $75,000. Moreover,
the majority of sealers today are landsmen since the government banned
large vessel commercial hunts for white coats in 1987. While in the
late 1970s sealers on large vessels made a decent living, landsmen today
don’t even make a pittance. In fact Fagan admitted that many sealers
are probably on welfare, others go on to fishing crab and other species
once the sealing season ends in May; and still others are enrolled in
a government program called TAGS which offers sealers financial support
and retraining for other forms of (non-fishing-related) employment.
As of April 1, 1995, the Canadian government issued 5671 commercial,
and 376 personal, fishing/sealing licenses to sealers in Newfoundland
and the Magdalen Islands according to Department of Fisheries records
provided by Dr. Lavigne. Fagan asserted that of those 5671 fisherman,
only a couple of thousand will actually go out on commercial seal hunts;
sport hunters are barred from engaging in commercial activities. Based
on figures obtained from Fagan in mid-April 1995, a sealer’s annual
income from sealing (including government subsidies for seal meat at
20 cents per pound) would average no more than $990 per year and could
be less. This assumes a sealing season of one month per year, an annual
kill of 60,000 seals divided by 2,000 sealers each grossing 30 seals,
average fees on a per seal basis of $9 per penis, $12 for a pelt, $5-6
for blubber, and $6-7 for meat (all in 1994 US$). The average dollar
value of one seal comes to $33. In addition, Fagan admits that sometimes
seal pelts are too damaged to sell, because a seal may have suffered
“ice burns” or been “torn up by another seal.”
Consequently a sealer, who may hope to get the maximum of $16 for a
prime pelt (an A1 ‘Beater’ pelt — the top category
for a pelt from a seal less than two years old), may only get $3 —
a circumstance which could cause his income to drop significantly.
In addition, while IFAW says the government continues to pay subsidies
for seal meat as an incentive to kill the full official quota of 186,000
seals this year, a report for the Canadian government by RT & Associates
released last November revealed that markets for seal meat, oil and
fur are either non-existent or not financially viable. Most of the seal
meat now goes to feed foxes and minks on fur farms, another industry
which has suffered image problems and declining sales.
Nevertheless, IFAW noted that since 1985, Canada has spent almost $10
million on various sealing initiatives in Newfoundland in an attempt
to resuscitate this dying industry.
Mismanaging the Oceans
One way to legitimize government spending on sealing is to create the
impression that seals are pests, competing for resources that belong
to humans. Hence they have been chosen as convenient scapegoats to conceal
the most blatant illustration of human mismanagement ever known. Overfishing
of turbot and cod stocks in the Atlantic, and of additional species
in other waters, has left many areas of the world’s oceans barren
of fish.
Though the collapse of the Atlantic cod industry in Canada has been
attributed to the gluttony of ever-expanding seal populations, scientific
evidence from the University of Guelph in Canada and elsewhere has shown
that only 1% of a seal’s diet consists of cod. Studies by Lawson,
Stenson, Kapel, Pemberton and Lavigne have identified at least 64 species
of fish and 67 species of invertebrates (as well as one bird species)
in the stomachs of harp seals over the last 53 years. Considering all
the available data collected since 1941, Atlantic cod has been found
in only 2.41% of harp seals’ stomachs.
Furthermore, seal populations are not expanding. According to Paul Watson,
kill statistics from the Canadian Department of Fisheries reveal a steady
decline in seal populations. Watson states that in the 1500s, the seal
population in Canada was estimated to be 30 million. As more Europeans
settled in the area, seal numbers dropped to 10 million in 1800, 5.3
million in 1950 and 1.2 million in 1972. Dr. Lavigne notes that by the
1960s, the scientific community was announcing its concern about dwindling
harp seals populations which had become threatened with extinction due
to overhunting. Between 1950 and 1970, the population had been depleted
by between 50 and 75%, a phenomenon which forced Canada to begin its
quota management program in 1971.
Today, says Lavigne, seal population estimates fluctuate depending on
who they come from. Dr. Bud Hulan, Minister of Fisheries from Newfoundland,
visiting the University of Guelph on March 31, 1995, told an audience
in the morning there were 8 million seals in Canada and in the afternoon
told another group there were 6 million. Lavigne affirms that Canadian
government figures, based on a 1990 census, show the number to be 3.1
million. The 1994 census figures have yet to be released.
One thing is clear: an active trade in seal parts would inevitably lead
to exploitation and/or extinction, as it did with the rhino for its
horn, the tiger for its skin, claws and genitals, the elephant for its
ivory, and the bear for its gall bladder. Individual governments’
efforts to legitimize the trade in seal parts may already be having
global effects. Dr. Lavigne asserted that sea lions in the Galapagos
Islands have already been found dead with their penises hacked off,
and Namibian fur seals are being hunted for the same reason. In addition,
governments may raise their seal kill quotas hoping to grab a share
of the parts market, ignoring other factors such as disease and environmental
pollution which may cumulatively ravage seal populations.
Lavigne says the only hope for stopping the trade in seal parts is for
the Canadian government to stop subsidizing the killing; and for foreign
governments to impose import bans, thus reducing market demand.
Hunt Figures Out Soon
According to estimates from Dr. Lavigne, 509 seals were killed on the
Magdalen Islands as of April 12, 1995. The Newfoundland seal hunt is
currently under way and will continue until the seals move to safer
waters. The Newfoundland sport hunt began on April 15, and lasted for
one month. Official figures for the number of seal deaths attributed
to the Canadian hunt will be available in a few months time from the
Canadian Minister of Fisheries. In this regard IFAW points out that
according to the Government’s own figures, up to 76% of seals
that are shot may not be recovered from the water, resulting in many
more being killed than are recorded in official figures.
Both Sea Shepherd and IFAW are monitoring the hunt; and Paul Watson,
who is still trying to get the Quebec police to press charges against
his assailants on the Magdalen Islands, will not give up on his mission
to establish cruelty-free industries in Canada.
(Based on interviews with Dr. David Lavigne, University of Guelph, seal
expert, 4/18/95, and Tina Fagan, Executive Director, Canadian Sealers
Association, 4/19/95).
Alix Fano is a journalist and activist based in
New York City.
What You Can Do: Send tax-deductible contributions to The Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, 3107A Washington Blvd., Marina del Rey, CA 90292,
and/or IFAW, 411 Main Street, Yarmouthport, MA 02675. — A.F.
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