Inhumanities of the North Atlantic Seals before fashion

[Omaha Steve]

Inhumanities of the North Atlantic
Seals before fashion
Melissa Hiebert
Illustration by Jessica Koroscil

“Canada’s department of fisheries and oceans is the most mismanaged and incompetent government department to date.” This statement was made by Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), at a recent lecture given at the University of Winnipeg. Watson appears to be easily justified in his remarks, given the rapidly decreasing supply of cod, salmon and other species of fish over the past two decades due to over fishing. Although some (lenient) restrictions were placed on the numbers of fish that could be caught, they have not been properly enforced. And, according to scientists, these depleting fish species may never be able to repopulate.

As if the near disappearance of several species of fish wasn’t evidence enough of negligence on the part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the continual allowance of the brutal slaying of 350,000 harp seals per year seems to speak just as loudly. Seals as young as three weeks old, the “official” age for seals to be considered adults, are clubbed to death annually for their pelts. The pelts are then marketed for commercial purposes. According to the SSCS, much of the time the blow to the head is not sufficient to kill the seals and as a result, 42 per cent of them are skinned alive.




Full story at link:
http://umanitoba.ca/manitoban/2005-2006/0928/713.inhumanities.of.north.atlantic.php

[Triana]

1. They've been trying to stop this seal clubbing practice for years...

...I really wish we / they could succeed at making this illegal and somehow having anyone who attempts it punished severely.

*sigh*

[JetboyOne]

2. What do seals eat?

Is it cod? Or aren't these two stories connected?

[Omaha Steve]

3. From the full story at the link

The government claims that the seals are in part responsible for the disappearance of the cod. However, as advocacy groups such as SSCS and Greenpeace stress, a harp seal only relies on cod for three per cent of its diet. In fact, harp seals consume much greater numbers of larger fish, many of which are considered to be natural predators of cod. The rumor that seals are contributing to depleting cod supplies is propagated only to further the justification of the seal hunt. In addition to these rumors, the government has laws in place preventing anyone but sealers from coming within a half-mile of the seals. Consequently, anyone wishing to document the seal hunt is prohibited because of the threat of fines or other legal action.

They love squid that is plentiful too.

[JetboyOne]

4. So harvesting the seals

for their part in the depletion of cod is bad science. How are the populations of Harp seals doing?