Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia. Canada's largest market for seals is Norway (through GC Rieber AS).[1]
The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) regulates the seal hunt in Canada. It sets quotas (total allowable catch-TAC), monitors the hunt, studies the seal population, works with the Canadian Sealers' Association to train sealers on new regulations, and promotes sealing through its website and spokespeople.
The DFO set kill quotas of 270,000 seals in 2007, 275,000 in 2008, 280,000 in 2009, and 330,000 in 2010.[2] The actual kills in recent years have been less than the quotas: 82,800 in 2007, 217,800 in 2008, 72,400 in 2009, and 67,000 in 2010.[3] In 2007, Norway claimed that 29,000 harp seals were killed in its seal hunt, and Russia and Greenland claimed that 5,476 and 90,000 seals were killed in 2007, respectively.
Harp seal populations in the northwest Atlantic declined to approximately 2 million in the late 1960s as a result of Canada's annual kill rates that averaged over 291,000 from 1952 to 1970.[4] Conservationists demanded reduced rates of killing and stronger regulations to avert the extinction of the harp seals. In response, in 1971, the Canadian government instituted a quota system. The system was competitive, with each boat catching as many seals as it could before the hunt closed, which the Department of Fisheries did when they knew that years quota had been reached. Because it was thought that the competitive element might cause sealers to cut corners, new regulations where introduced that limited the catch to 400 seals per day, and 2000 per boat total.
A 2007 population survey conducted by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) estimated the current population at 5.5 million (95% CI 3.8 million - 7.1 million).[5] It is illegal in Canada to hunt newborn harp seals (whitecoats) and young hooded seals (bluebacks). When the seal pups begin to molt their downy white fur at the age of 12–14 days, they are called "ragged-jacket" and can be commercially hunted.[6] After molting, the seals are called "beaters", named for the way they beat the water with their flippers.[7] The hunt remains highly controversial, attracting significant media coverage and protests each year.[8] Images from past hunts have become iconic symbols for conservation, animal welfare, and animal rights advocates. In 2009, Russia banned the hunting of harp seals less than one year old.
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Seals have been used for their pelts, their fat (seal oil was often used as lamp fuel, lubricants and cooking oil, and for processing such materials as leather and jute, as a constituent of soap, and as the liquid base for red ochre paint), and for their flesh.
Archeological evidence indicates the Native Americans and First Nations People in Canada have been hunting seals for at least 4,000 years. Traditionally, when an Inuit boy killed his first seal or caribou, a feast was held. The meat was an important source of fat, protein, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and iron,[9] and the pelts were prized for their warmth. The Inuit diet is rich in fish, whale, and seal.
Traditional Inuit seal hunting accounts for three percent of the total hunt; it is excluded from the European Commission's call in 2006 for a ban on the import, export and sale of all harp and hooded seal products.[10] Ringed seals were once the main staple for food, and have been used for clothing, boots, fuel for lamps, a delicacy, containers, igloo windows, and furnished harnesses for huskies. Though no longer used to this extent, ringed seals are still an important food source for the people of Nunavut.[11] Called nayiq by the Central Alaskan Yup'ik people, the ringed seal is also hunted and eaten in Alaska.
Seals were hunted in northwest Europe and the Baltic Sea more than 10,000 years ago. The first commercial hunting of seals is said to have occurred in 1515, when a cargo of fur seal skins from Uruguay was sent to Spain for sale in the markets of Seville.[12]
Migratory fishermen began hunting seals in the region of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the 1500s. Large scale commercial seal hunting outside of Europe began with the Newfoundland seal hunt, which became an annual event starting in 1723 and expanded rapidly near the turn of the 18th century. Growing from the enormous international Grand Banks fishery, the Newfoundland hunt began with small schooner-based hunts. Kill rates averaging 451,000 in the 1830s, rising to 546,000 annually during the first half of the next decade, led to a marked decline in the harp seal population, which adversely impacted profitability of the sealing industry.[13]
In the 1870s, the industry was transformed by the arrival of large, steam-powered sealing vessels, such as the steam barquentines Bear and Terra Nova, which could smash through ice packs to the heart of large seal herds. These large and expensive ships required major capital investments from British and Newfoundland firms, and shifted the industry from merchants in small outports to companies based in St. John's, Newfoundland. By the late 19th century, the sealing industry in Newfoundland was second in importance only to cod fishing.[14] The seal hunt provided critical winter wages for fishermen, but remained harsh and dangerous work, marked by major sealing disasters that claimed hundreds of lives, such as the loss the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster involving the SS Southern Cross, the SS Newfoundland and SS Stephano.[15] After World War II, the Newfoundland hunt was dominated by large Norwegian sealing vessels until the late 20th century, when the much diminished hunt shifted to smaller motor fishing vessels, based from outports around Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2007, the commercial seal hunt dividend contributed about $6 million to the Newfoundland GDP, a fraction of the industry's former importance.[16]
Sealing spread further in the late 18th century, when seal herds in the southern hemisphere began to be hunted by whalers. In 1778, English sealers brought back from the Island of South Georgia and the Magellan Strait area as many as 40,000 seal skins and 2,800 tons of elephant seal oil. In 1791, 102 vessels, manned by 3000 sealers, were hunting seals south of the equator. The principal American sealing ports were Stonington and New Haven, Connecticut.[17] Most of the pelts taken during these expeditions would be sold in China.[12]
Commercial sealing in Australasia appears to have started with Eber Bunker, master of the William and Ann who announced his intention in November 1791 to visit Dusky Sound in New Zealand, did call in that country and had skins on board when he got back to Britain.[18] Captain Raven of the Britannia stationed a party at Dusky from 1792–93, but the discovery of Bass Strait, between mainland Australia and Van Diemen's Land, now called Tasmania, saw the sealers' focus shift there in 1798, when a gang including Daniel Cooper was landed from the Nautilus on Cape Barren Island.[19] With Bass Strait over-exploited by 1802 attention returned to southern New Zealand where Stewart Island/Rakiura and Foveaux Strait were explored, exploited and charted from 1803 to 1804.[20] Thereafter, attention shifted to the subantarctic Antipodes Islands, 1805–7, the Auckland Islands from 1806, the southeast coast of New Zealand's South Island, Otago Harbour and Solander Island by 1809, before focusing further to the south at the newly discovered Campbell Island and Macquarie Island from 1810.[21] In this time sealers were active on the southern coast of mainland Australia, for example at Kangaroo Island.[22] This whole development has been called the first sealing boom and sparked the Sealers' War in southern New Zealand. By the mid teens of the 19th century, sealing had faded. There was a brief revival from 1823, but this was very short-lived.[23] Although highly profitable at times and affording New South Wales one of its earliest trade staples, its unregulated character saw its self-destruction. Some traders were Australia-based, notably Simeon Lord, Henry Kable, James Underwood and Robert Campbell, but American and British traders and seamen were engaged in it, too, such as the Plummers of London and the Whitneys of New York.[24]
By 1830, most Pacific seal stocks had been seriously depleted, and Lloyd's records only showed one full-time sealing vessel on its books.[25] Since then, a number of nations have outlawed the hunting of seals and other marine mammals. The landmark North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 was the first international treaty specifically addressing wildlife conservation.[26] Today, commercial sealing is conducted by only five nations: Canada, Greenland, Namibia, Norway, and Russia. The United States, which had been heavily involved in the sealing industry, now maintains a complete ban on the commercial hunting of marine mammals, with the exception of indigenous peoples who are allowed to hunt a small number of seals each year.[27]
In the Canadian commercial seal hunt, the majority of the hunters initiate the kill using a firearm. Ninety percent of sealers on the ice floes of the Front (east of Newfoundland), where the majority of the hunt occurs, use firearms.[28]
An older and more traditional method of killing seals is with a hakapik: a heavy wooden club with a hammer head and metal hook on the end. The hakapik is used because of its efficiency; the animal can be killed quickly without damage to its pelt. The hammer head is used to crush the seals' thin skulls, while the hook is used to move the carcasses. Canadian sealing regulations describe the dimensions of the clubs and the hakapiks, and caliber of the rifles and minimum bullet velocity, that can be used. They state: "Every person who strikes a seal with a club or hakapik shall strike the seal on the forehead until its skull has been crushed," and that "No person shall commence to skin or bleed a seal until the seal is dead," which occurs when it "has a glassy-eyed, staring appearance and exhibits no blinking reflex when its eye is touched while it is in a relaxed condition."[29] Reportedly, in one study, three out of eight times, the animal was not rendered either dead or unconscious by shooting, and the hunters would then kill the seal using a hakapik or other club of a type that is sanctioned by the governing authority.[30]
Seal skins have been used by aboriginal people for millennia to make waterproof jackets and boots, and seal fur to make fur coats. Pelts account for over half the processed value of a seal, selling at over C$100 each as of 2006.[31] According to Paul Christian Rieber, of GC Rieber AS, the difficult ice conditions and low quotas in 2006 resulted in less access to seal pelts, which caused the commodity price to be pushed up.[32] One high-end fashion designer, Donatella Versace, has begun to use seal pelts, while others, such as Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ralph Lauren, refrain from using any kind of fur.[33][34]
Seal meat is an important source of food for residents of small coastal communities.[35] Meat is sold to the Asian pet food market; in 2004, only Taiwan and South Korea purchased seal meat from Canada.[36] The seal blubber is used to make seal oil, which is marketed as a fish oil supplement. In 2001, two percent of Canada's raw seal oil was processed and sold in Canadian health stores.[37] There has been virtually no market for seal organs since 1998.[35]
In 2005, three companies exported seal skin: Rieber in Norway, Atlantic Marine in Canada and Great Greenland in Greenland.[38] Their clients were earlier French fashion houses and fur makers in Europe, but today the fur is mainly exported to Russia and China.[38]
In Canada, the season for the commercial hunt of harp seal is from November 15 to May 15.[39] Most sealing occurs in late March in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and during the first or second week of April off Newfoundland, in an area known as the Front. This peak spring period is generally referred to as the "Canadian Seal Hunt".[40]
In 2003, the three-year harp seal quota granted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada was increased to a maximum of 975,000 animals per three years, with a maximum of 350,000 animals in any two consecutive years.[39] In 2006, 325,000 harp seals, as well as 10,000 hooded seals and 10,400 grey seals were killed. An additional 10,000 animals were allocated for hunting by aboriginal peoples. The current northwest Atlantic harp seal population is estimated at 5.6 million animals.[41]
Although around 70 percent of Canadian seals killed are taken on the Front,[40] private monitors focus on the St. Lawrence hunt, because of its more convenient location.[5] The 2006 St. Lawrence leg of the hunt was officially closed on Apr. 3, 2006; sealers had already exceeded the quota by 1,000 animals.[42] On March 26, 2007 the Newfoundland and Labrador government launched a seal hunt website.
Warm winters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence have led to thinner and more unstable ice there. In 2007, Canada's federal fisheries ministry reported that while the pups are born on the ice as usual, the ice floes have started to break up before the pups learn to swim, causing the pups to drown.[43] Canada reduced the 2007 quota by 20%, because overflights showed large numbers of seal pups were lost to thin and melting ice.[44] In southern Labrador and off Newfoundland's northeast coast, however, there was extra heavy ice in 2007, and the coast guard estimated as many as 100 vessels were trapped in ice simultaneously.[45][46]
The 2010 hunt was cut short because demand for seal pelts was down. Only one local pelt buyer, NuTan Furs, offered to purchase pelts; and it committed to purchase less than 15,000 pelts.[47] Pelt prices were about C$21/pelt in 2010, which is about twice the 2009 price and about 64% of the 2007 price. The reduced demand is attributable mainly to the 2009 ban on imports of seal products into the European Union.
The 2010 winter was unusually warm, with little ice forming in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in February and March, when harp seals give birth to their pups on ice floes. Around the Gulf, harp seals arrived in late winter to give birth on near-shore ice and even on beaches rather than on their usual whelping grounds: sturdy sea ice. Also, seal pups born elsewhere began floating to shore on small, shrinking pieces of ice. Many others stayed too far north, out of reach of all but the most determined hunters. Environment Canada, the weather forecasting agency, reported the ice was at the lowest level on record.[48]
The Fisheries Act established "Seal Protection Regulations" in the mid-1960s. The regulations were combined with other Canadian marine mammals regulations in 1993, to form the "Marine Mammal Regulations".[49][50][51] In addition to describing the use of the rifle and hakapik, the regulations state every person "who fishes for seals for personal or commercial use shall land the pelt or the carcass of the seal."[5] The commercial hunting of infant harp seals (whitecoats) and infant hooded seals (bluebacks) was banned in 1987 under pressure from animal rights groups. Now, seals may only be killed once they have started molting (from 12 to 15 days of age), as this coincides with the time when they are abandoned by their mothers.
Canada's biggest market for seal pelts is Norway.[52] Carino Limited is one of Newfoundland's largest seal pelt producers. Carino (CAnada–RIeber–NOrway) is marketing its seal pelts mainly through its parent company, GC Rieber Skinn, Bergen, Norway.[53] Canada sold pelts to eleven countries in 2004. The next largest were Germany, Greenland, and China/Hong Kong. Other importers were Finland, Denmark, France, Greece, South Korea, and Russia.[36] Asia remains the principal market for seal meat exports.[54] One of Canada's market access priorities for 2002 was to "continue to press Korean authorities to obtain the necessary approvals for the sale of seal meat for human consumption in Korea."[55] Canadian and Korean officials agreed in 2003 on specific Korean import requirements for seal meat.[56] For 2004, only Taiwan and South Korea purchased seal meat from Canada.[36]
Canadian seal product exports reached C$18 million in 2006. Of this, C$5.4 million went to the EU.[57] In 2009, the European Union banned all seal imports, shrinking the market.[58] Where pelts once sold for more than $100, they now fetch $8 to $15 each.[48]
Although official figures for the Greenland seal hunt are not available, the Government of Canada estimates 20,000 to 25,000 seals are killed in Greenland annually.[59] In January 2006, the government of Greenland banned imports of Canadian seal skins, citing fears Canadian seals are brutally beaten to death. The boycott may be an effort to distance Greenland's own seal hunt from Canada's, and spare themselves negative press in the process.[60] The ban was rescinded in May 2006, with the Greenland Home Rule Government noting the seal hunt in Canada has sensible regulations on hunting methods, drawn up in close cooperation with biologists, veterinarians, weapons experts and seal hunters. It further noted seal-hunting in Canada is subject to strict and extensive control measures, to ensure the use of effective and humane killing methods.
In Greenland, seal hunting is conducted with rifles - the seals being shot in the head from a small open boat while they sit on an ice floe. The shot needs to be very accurate and the boat must rush up to the seal to hook the carcass out of the water where it falls within a few seconds before it sinks. The economy of certain very rural Greenlandic villages, such as Aappilattoq, are highly dependent upon such seal hunting.[61]
| Year | Annual Quota | Catch |
| Before 1990 | 17,000 pups[62] | |
| 1998–2000 | 30,000 pups[63] | |
| 2001–2003 | 60,000 pups[63] | |
| 2004–2006 | 60,000 pups, 7,000 bulls[63] | |
| 2007 | 80,000 pups, 6,000 bulls[64] | |
| 2008 | 80,000 pups, 6,000 bulls[64] | 23,000 seals[65] |
| 2009 | 85,000 pups, 7,000 bulls[66] | |
| 2010 | 85,000 pups, 7,000 bulls[66] |
Namibia is the only country in the Southern Hemisphere culling seals. Although the protection and the sustainable use of natural resources is part of Namibia's constitution, it regularly conducts the second highest seal harvest in the world,[63] mainly because of the huge amount of fish seals are estimated to consume. While a government-initiated study found seal colonies consume more fish than the entire fishing industry can catch,[64] animal protection society Seal Alert South Africa estimated less than 0.3% losses to commercial fisheries.[62]
Harvesting is done from July to November[62] on two places, Cape Cross and Atlas Bay, and in the past at Wolf Bay.[64] These two colonies together account for 75% of the cape fur seal population of the country.[63]
Cape Cross is a tourism resort and the largest cape fur colony in Namibia. The Department of Tourism has stated[67] that "Cape Cross Seal Reserve was established to protect the largest breeding colony of Cape fur seals in the world". In season, the resort is closed and sealed off during the culling in the early morning hours, journalists are not allowed to enter.[65] Namibia’s SPCA is allowed to observe the culling from 2010 onwards.[66]
Namibia's Ministry of Fisheries announced a three-year rolling quota for the seal harvest, although different quotas per year are sometimes reported.[64][65] The latest[update] quota announced was in 2009, valid until 2011.[66] The quotas are usually not filled by the concession holders.[62]
In 2009, an unusual bid to end seal culling in Namibia was attempted when Seal Alert tried to raise money to purchase the only buyer of Namibian seals, Australian-based Hatem Yavuz, lock, stock, and barrel for US$14.2 million.[65] The project did not materialise. The Government of Namibia, on the other hand, offered the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) an opportunity to buy out the two sealers in Namibia to finally end the culling. The offer was rejected.[63]
In 2011, South African activists launched a boycott of Namibian tourism and Namibian products[68] in response to the cull.
| Year | Quota | Catch |
| 1950 | 255,056[69] | |
| 1955 | 295,172[69] | |
| 1960 | 216,034[69] | |
| 1965 | 140,118[69] | |
| 1970 | 188,980[69] | |
| 1975 | 112,274[69] | |
| 1980 | 60,746[69] | |
| 1985 | 19,902[69] | |
| 1990 | 15,232[69] | |
| 1992 | 14,076[70] | |
| 1993 | 12,772 | |
| 1994 | 18,113 | |
| 1995 | 15,981 | |
| 1996 | 16,737 | |
| 1997 | 10,114 | |
| 1998 | 9,067 | |
| 1999 | 6,399 | |
| 2000 | 20,549 | |
| 2001 | ||
| 2002 | 10,691[71] | |
| 2003 | 12,870[69] | |
| 2004 | 30,600[72] | 14,746[69] |
| 2005 | 30,600[73] | 21,597[69] |
| 2006 | 45,200[74] | 17,037[69] |
| 2007 | 46,200[75] | 8,000[76] |
| 2008 | 31,000[76] | 1,260[77] |
The Norwegian sealing season runs from January to September. The hunt involves "seal catching" by seagoing sealing boats on the Arctic ice shelf, and "seal hunting" on the coast and islands of mainland Norway. The latter is carried out by small groups of licenced hunters shooting seals from land and using small boats to retrieve the catch.
In 2005, Norway began offering seal hunting as a tourist attraction.[78] In 2006, 17,037 seals (including 13,390 harp and 3,647 hooded seals) were harvested.[79] In 2007, the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs stated up to 13.5 million Norwegian krone (about US$2.6 million) would be given in funding to vessels in the 2007 Norwegian seal hunt.[80]
Regulations All Norwegian sealing vessels are required to carry a qualified veterinary inspector on board.[81] Norwegian sealers are required to pass a shooting test each year before the season starts, using the same weapon and ammunition as they would on the ice. Likewise, they have to pass a hakapik test.[82]
Adult seals more than one year old must be shot in the head with expanding bullets, and cannot be clubbed to death. The hakapik shall be used to ensure the animal is dead. This is done by crushing the skull of the shot adult seal with the short end of the hakapik, before the long spike is thrust deep into the animal's brain. The seal shall then be bled by making an incision from its jaw to the end of its sternum. The killing and bleeding must be done on the ice, and live animals may never be brought onboard the ship. Young seals may be killed using just the hakapik, but only in the aforementioned manner, i.e., they need not be shot.[82]
Seals in the water and seals with young may not be killed, and the use of traps, artificial lighting, aeroplanes or helicopters is forbidden.[82]
The hakapik may only be used by certified seal-catchers (fangstmenn) operating in the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean and not by coastal seal hunters. All coastal seal hunters must be pre-approved by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries and have to pass a large game hunting test.[83]
In 2007, the European Food Safety Agency confirmed the animals are put to death faster and more humanely in the Norwegian sealing than in large game hunting on land.[81]
Export
In Norway in 2004, only Rieber worked with sealskin and seal oil.[84] In 2001, the biggest producer of raw seal oil was Canada. (Two percent of the raw oil was processed and sold in Canadian health stores).[37] Rieber had the majority of all distribution of raw seal oil in the world market, but there was no demand for seal oil.[37] From 1995 to 2005, Rieber annually received between 2 and 3 million Norwegian krone in subsidy.[85] A 2003–2004 parliamentary report says CG Rieber Skinn is the only company in the world that delivers skin from bluebacks.[86] Most of the skins processed by Rieber have been imported from abroad, mainly from Canada. Only a small portion is from the Norwegian hunt. Of the processed skin, five percent is sold in Norway; the rest is exported to the Russian and Asian markets.[32]
Fortuna Oils AS (established in 2004) is a 100% owned subsidiary of GC Rieber.[87] They get the majority of their raw oil imported from Canada.[88] They also have access to raw oil from the Norwegian hunt.[88]
The Russian seal hunt has not been well monitored since the breakup of the Soviet Union.[89] The quota in 1998 was 35,000 animals.[90] Reportedly, many whitecoat pups are not properly killed and are transported, while injured, to processing areas. In January 2000, a bill to ban seal hunting was passed by the Russian parliament by 273 votes to 1, but was vetoed by President Vladimir Putin.[91]
On September 21, 2007 in Arkhangelsk, the Norwegian GC Rieber Skinn AS proposed a joint Russian–Norwegian seal hunting project. The campaign was carried out from one hunt boat supplied by GS Rieber Skinn AS in 2007, lasted two weeks, and brought in 40 000 roubles per Russian hunter. GS Rieber skinn AS declared a plan to order 20 boats and donate them to the Pomor.[92] CG Rieber Skinn AS, in 2007, established a daughter company in Arkhangelsk, called GC Rieber Skinn Pomor'e Lic. (GC Rieber Skinn Pomorje).
The Norwegian company Polardrift AS, in 2007, had plans to establish a company in Russia, and operate under Russian flag, in close cooperation with GC Rieber Skinn Pomor'e.
Plans for the 2008 season included both helicopter-based hunts, mainly to take whitecoats, and boat-based hunts, mainly targeting beaters.[93]
On March 18, 2009, Russia's Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, Yuriy Trutnev, announced a complete ban on the hunting of harp seals younger than one year of age in the White Sea.[94]
Canada has become the center of the sealing debate because of the comparatively large size of its hunt.
According to a 2002 peer-reviewed study done by five Canadian veterinarians and funded by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA),[95] "the large majority of seals taken during this hunt (at best, 98% in work reported here) are killed in an acceptably humane manner." These veterinarians found, "During the 2001 season in the Gulf, three (1.9%) of 158 seals brought on board of the sealing vessels and directly observed by Daoust had not been killed, and in one (0.86%) of 116 interactions between seals and sealers observed on videotapes by Daoust and Crook, the seal also did not appear to have been killed before being hooked and brought on board." They thus concluded "This small proportion of animals that are not killed efficiently justifies continued attention to this industry’s activities, preferably by members of the veterinary profession, who are best equipped to assess the humaneness of the killing methods."
In observing four videos taken during the 2001 seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the authors of this report state, "A large proportion (87%) of the sealers recorded on the four videotapes failed to palpate the skull or check the corneal reflex before proceeding to hook or bleed the seal or go to another seal."
The Royal Commission on Seals and the Sealing Industry in Canada, also known as the Malouf Commission, concluded in a 1986 report, "Judged by the criteria of rapidity of unconsciousness and particularly the absence of preslaughter stress, the clubbing of seal pups is, when properly performed, at least as humane as, and often more humane than, the killing methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, which are accepted by a majority of the public."[96]
According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), "The Marine Mammal Regulations stipulate that seals must be harvested quickly using only high-powered rifles, shotguns firing slugs, clubs or hakapiks.[97]
However, a 2001 study, by Burdon, et al., the IFAW Veterinary Report on the Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt 2001[98] conducted by five international veterinarians and commissioned by IFAW, an organization that opposes the seal hunt,[99] disputes these findings. This report concludes the Canadian commercial seal hunt results in considerable and unacceptable suffering.
The veterinarians examined 76 seal carcasses and found that in 17% of the cases, there were no detectable lesions of the skull, leading them to conclude the clubbing likely did not result in loss of consciousness. In 25% of the remaining cases, the carcasses had minimal to moderate skull fractures, indicative of a "decreased level of consciousness", but probably not unconsciousness. The remaining 58% of the carcasses examined showed extensive skull fractures.
This veterinary study included examination of video footage of 179 seals hunted in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In these videos, 96 seals were shot, 56 were shot and then clubbed or gaffed, 19 were clubbed or gaffed, and 8 were killed by unknown means. In 79% of these cases, sealers did not check the corneal reflex to ensure that the seals were dead prior to hooking or skinning them. In only 6% of these cases, seals were bled immediately, where struck. The average time from initial strike to bleeding was 66 seconds.
In 2005, IFAW published a comparison of the CVMA-funded study and its own study, entitled Canada’s Commercial Seal Hunt is "Not Acceptably Humane".[100] In this critique, Dr. David M. Lavigne, Science Advisor to IFAW, writes, "The Burdon et al. evidence cited above addresses the question of whether seals were likely conscious or unconscious at the time they were skinned, using post-mortem examination of skulls. In marked contrast, the figure cited from Daoust et al.’s report represents the number of seals clubbed or shot that were brought on board sealing vessels while still conscious. That number ignores any and all animal suffering that occurs between the time animals are clubbed or shot until they eventually reach a sealing vessel, usually on the end of a hook or gaff." Another difference between these reports is "Daoust et al.’s direct observations were made under very different conditions than those provided by Burdon et al. Unlike Burdon et al.’s observations, they were made directly from sealing vessels so that the sealers were unavoidably aware that observers were present. As Daoust et al. (p 692) admit, the presence of an observer on a sealing vessel “may have incited sealers to hit the seals skulls more vigorously”. Of course, the presence of an observer also has the potential to modify other sealing practices, including checking for a corneal reflex and bleeding animals immediately after clubbing."
In 2005, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) commissioned the Independent Veterinarians Working Group Report. With reference to video evidence, the report states: "Perception of the seal hunt seems to be based largely on emotion, and on visual images that are often difficult even for experienced observers to interpret with certainty. While a hakapik strike on the skull of a seal appears brutal, it is humane if it achieves rapid, irreversible loss of consciousness leading to death."[101]
In 2007, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans conducted a population survey. The resulting estimate of the harp seal population was 5.5 million (95% CI 3.8 million to 7.1 million). In 2004, the population estimate was similar: 5.9 million (95% CI 4.6 million to 7.2 million).[102]
Prior to the arrival of European settlers, a much larger population of harp seals migrated to the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador. Settlers began exploiting the population, with kills peaking in the middle of the 1800s. In the first half of the 1840s, 546,000 seals were killed annually. This led to a population decline that adversely affected the industry.[13]
In the 1950s and 1960s an average of over 291,000 seal pups were killed each year. This led to a population decline to less than 2 million seals. Conservationists became alarmed and demanded controls on kill rates. Thus in 1971, Canada instituted a quota system. In the years from 1971 to 1982, an average of 165,627 seals were killed.
In 1983, the European Union banned the import of whitecoat harp seal pup pelts (pelts from pups less than about two weeks of age, when the pups molt). As a result, the market for pelts dropped. The kill rates thus declined in subsequent years to an average of about 52,000 seals from 1983 to 1995. During this time, the harp seal population increased.
After the European Union's ban on whitecoat pelt imports, the Canadian government and sealing industry developed markets for the pelts of beaters. In 1996, the kill rates again increased to over 200,000 each year, except in the year 2000. In 2002 and 2004 to 2006, over 300,000 seal pups were killed each year.
As a result of population concerns, Norway's seal hunt is now controlled by quotas based on recommendations from International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES),[103] However, sealing in Norway has declined in recent years, and the quotas have not been reached.[104]
In addition to hunting pressures on the population of harp seals, as ice seals that are dependent on solid sea ice for whelping, the harp seal population is affected by global climate change. The lack of sea ice in recent years has resulted in the drowning deaths of tens of thousands of newborn harp seal pups.[105]
Animal welfare advocates and organizations, such as PETA, object to the use of real fur when many synthetic "faux fur" alternatives are available. Fur advocates claim that faux fur does not compare to real fur's superior warmth and style. They also claim it is a renewable resource and synthetic fur is a petroleum-based product and can release highly toxic prussic acid into the environment.[106]
According to Canadian authorities, the value of the 2004 seal harvest was C$16.5 million, which significantly contributes to seal manufacturing companies, and for several thousand fishermen and First Nations peoples. For some sealers, they claim, proceeds from the hunt make up a third of their annual income. Critics, however, say this represents only a tiny fraction of the C$600-million Newfoundland fishing industry. Sealing opponents also say $16.5 million is insignificant, compared to the funding required to regulate and subsidize the hunt. For 1995 and 1996, there are confirmed reports Fisheries and Oceans Canada encouraged maximum utilization of harvested seals through a $0.20 per pound meat subsidy.[107] The level of subsidy totalled $650,000 in 1997, $440,000 in 1998 and $250,000 in 1999. There were no meat subsidies in 2000.[108] Some critics, such as the McCartneys (see below), have suggested promoting that area as an ecotourism site would be far more lucrative than the annual harvest.[109]
In March 2005, Greenpeace asked the DFO to "dispel the myth that seals are hampering the recovery of cod stocks." In doing so, they implied the seal hunt is, at least in part, a cull designed to increase cod stocks. Cod fishing has traditionally been a key part of the Atlantic fishery, and an important part of the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador. Fisheries and Oceans Canada responded there is no connection between the annual seal harvest and the cod fishery, and that the seal hunt is "established on sound conservation principles."[110]
Many animal protection groups encourage people to petition against the harvest. Respect for Animals and Humane Society International believe the hunt will be ended only by the financial pressure of a boycott of Canadian seafood. In 2005, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) called for such a boycott in the United States.[111]
Protesters frequently use images of whitecoats, despite Canada's ban on the commercial hunting of suckling pups. The HSUS explains this by saying images of the legally hunted ragged jackets are nearly indistinguishable from those of whitecoats. Also, they state, according to official DFO kill reports, 97% percent of the estimated million harp seals killed in the last four years have been under three months old, and the majority of these are less than one month old.[112] [113]
On March 26, 2006, seven antisealing activists were arrested in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for violating the terms of their observer permits. By law, observers must maintain a ten-meter distance between themselves and the sealers.[114] Five of the protesters were later acquitted.[115] In the same month, as part of a counterprotest, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams encouraged people in the province to boycott Costco after the retailer decided to stop carrying seal oil capsules.[116] Costco stated politics played no role in their decision to remove the capsules, and on April 4 that year, they were again being sold in Costco stores.[117]
The law was approved by the Council of the European Union without debate on July 27, 2009.[118] Denmark, Romania, and Austria abstained.[119] The Canadian government responded to the move by stating that it will take the European Union to the World Trade Organization if the ban does not exempt Canada.[120] Canadian Inuits from Nunavut territory have opposed the ban and lobbied European Parliament members against it.[121] The legislation banning seal products is likely to come into effect before the beginning of the hunting season in 2010.[121]
Numerous celebrities have opposed the commercial seal hunt. Rex Murphy has reported celebrities have been used by antihunt activists since the mid-20th century; Yvette Mimieux and Loretta Swit were recruited to attract the attention of international gossip magazines.[122] Other celebrities who have aligned themselves against the hunt include Richard Dean Anderson, Kim Basinger, Juliette Binoche,[123] Sir Paul McCartney, Heather Mills, Pamela Anderson, Martin Sheen, Pierce Brosnan, Morrissey, Paris Hilton, Robert Kennedy, Jr.,[124] Rutger Hauer,[125] Brigitte Bardot, Ed Begley, Jr., Farley Mowat, Linda Blair, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers,[126]
In March 2006, Brigitte Bardot traveled to Ottawa to protest the hunt, though the prime minister turned down her request for a meeting. During the same month, Paul and Heather Mills McCartney toured the Gulf of St. Lawrence's sealing grounds, and spoke out against the seal hunt, including as guests on Larry King Live, where the two debated with Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 1978, marine ecologist Jacques Cousteau criticized the focus on the seal hunt, arguing it is entirely emotional: "We have to be logical. We have to aim our activity first to the endangered species. Those who are moved by the plight of the harp seal could also be moved by the plight of the pig - the way they are slaughtered is horrible."[127]