Seal hunting

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Sealing redirects here; for other uses, see sealing (disambiguation).

Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals for their pelts, blubber, and meat; as well as to ensure the population does not reach levels that would threaten other species.^[1] The hunt is practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, as well as Greenland, Namibia, Norway, and Russia. Seal hunting is an important source of income and food in small coastal communities where other opportunities are limited.^[2]

Seal populations were severely depleted when commercial sealing became a major industry, with the world harp seal population declining to 1.5 million.^[3] As a result of population concerns hunting is now controlled by quotas based on recommendations from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES),^[4] and in 2007, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) set the "total allowable catch" (TAC) of harp seals at 270,000 per year. ^[5] This number is, by comparison, smaller than the average number of animals killed for pelts on European fur farms every week.^[6] Harp seals have never been considered endangered and the Marine Animal Response Society, per March 2007, estimates the harp seal population in the world at 9.5 million.^[7]

The practice remains highly controversial, attracting significant media coverage and protests each year.^[3] Images from the hunts have become iconic symbols for conservation, animal welfare, and animal rights advocates.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Traditional Inuit hunt 1.2 History of hunting elsewhere 2 Equipment and method 2.1 Hakapiks 3 Modern sealing 3.1 Products made from seals 3.2 Sealing nations 3.2.1 Greenland 3.2.2 Namibia 3.2.3 Norway 3.2.4 Russia 4 Sealing debate 4.1 Cruelty to animals 4.2 Ecological feasibility 4.3 Objections to fur 4.4 Economic impact 4.5 As a culling method 4.6 Protests 4.6.1 Belgian ban 4.6.2 Celebrity involvement 5 In fiction 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Traditional Inuit hunt

Archeological evidence indicates that 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 protein, vitamin A and iron, and the pelts were prized for their warmth.^[8] The Inuit diet is rich in fish, whale, and seal. Researchers have found high levels of mercury in the blood and tissues of polar bears, seals, and Inuit men, women.^[9]

The Inuit seal hunting accounts for three percent of the total hunt. The traditional Inuit seal hunting 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] The natsiq (ringed seal) have been 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. The natsiq is no longer used to this extent, but ringed seal is still an important food source for the people of Nunavut.^[11]

[edit] History of hunting elsewhere

Seal coats have long been prized for their warmth. Seal oil was often used as lamp fuel, lubricating and cooking oil, for processing such materials as leather and jute, as a constituent of soap, and as the liquid base for red ochre paint.

There is evidence that seals were hunted in northwest Europe and the Baltic Sea more than 10,000 years ago.^{[citation needed]} 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] Sealing became more prevalent in the late 1700s 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. ^[13] Most of the pelts taken during these expeditions would be sold in China.^[12]

The Newfoundland seal hunt became an annually recorded event starting in 1723. By the late 1800s, sealing had become the second most important industry in Newfoundland, second only to cod fishing.^[14] The peak of the sealing industry occurred in 1821, when Lloyd's Register had 164 sealing vessels on their records.

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. ^[15] 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.^[16] With Bass Strait over-exploited by 1802 attention returned to southern New Zealand where Stewart Island and Foveaux Strait were explored, exploited and charted from 1803 to 1804.^[17] Thereafter attention shifted to the subantarctic Antipodes Islands, 1805-7, the Auckland Islands from 1806, the south east 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. ^[18] In this time sealers were active on the southern coast of mainland Australia, for example at Kangaroo Island. ^[19] This whole development has been called the first sealing boom. It faded by the mid teens of the 19thC. There was a brief revival from 1823 but this was very short-lived.^[20] 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 Australian-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. ^[21]

By 1830, most seal stocks had been seriously depleted, and Lloyd's records only showed one full-time sealing vessel on its books.^[22] Since then, a number of nations have outlawed the hunting of seals and other marine mammals. 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.^[23]

[edit] Equipment and method

Rifles and hakapiks are permitted. 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 that: "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."^[24]

[edit] Hakapiks

Main article: Hakapik

One method of killing seals is with the 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 skull, while the hook is used to move the carcass.

The hakapik is the primary tool of hunters in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. Hunters who operate on the 'front' off the northeast coast of Newfoundland primarily use high powered rifles. The hakapik is then used as a last resort in retrieving the animal from the ice floe, and ensuring it is completely incapacitated.

[edit] Modern sealing

[edit] Products made from seals

Seal skins are used 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 $100 each as of 2006.^[25] According to Paul Christian Rieber, of GC Rieber AS, the difficult ice conditions and low quotas in 2006, resulted in less access to sealpelts, which caused the commodity price to be pushed up.^[26] Some high-end fashion designers, such as Donatella Versace and Gucci have 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.^[27][28]

Seal meat is an important source of food for residents of small coastal communities.^[29] Researchers have found high levels of mercury in the blood and tissues of seals, polar bears, and Inuit men and women.^[30] Meat is sold to the Asian pet food market, and used as silage. In 2004, only Taiwan and South Korea purchased seal meat from Canada.^[31] 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.^[32] There has been virtually no market for seal organs since 1998.^[33]

[edit] Sealing nations

In 2005, three companies exported seal skin: Rieber in Norway, Atlantic Marine in Canada and Great Greenland in Greenland.^[34] Their clients were earlier French fashion houses and fur makers in Europe, but today the fur is mainly exported to Russia and China.^[34]

[edit] Greenland

Although official figures for the Greenland seal hunt are not available, the government of Canada estimates that 20,000 to 25,000 seals are killed in Greenland annually.^[35] In January 2006, the government of Greenland banned imports of Canadian seal skins, citing fears that 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.^[36] The ban was rescinded in May 2006, with the Greenland Home Rule Government noting that the seal hunt in Canada has sensible regulations on hunting methods, drawn up in close cooperation with biologists, veterinarians, weapons experts and seal hunters.^{[citation needed]} It further noted that seal-hunting in Canada is subject to strict and extensive control measures, which some claim has led to the use of effective and humane killing methods.

[edit] Namibia

In 2000, the Namibian government approved a quota of 67,000 Cape fur seals, including 60,000 pups and 7,000 bulls.^[37]

[edit] Norway

Year	Quota	Catch
1950		255,056[38]
1955		295,172[38]
1960		216,034[38]
1965		140,118[38]
1970		188,980[38]
1975		112,274[38]
1980		60,746[38]
1985		19,902[38]
1990		15,232[38]
1992		14,076[39]
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[40]
2003		12,870[38]
2004	30,600[41]	14,746[38]
2005	30,600 [42]	21,597[38]
2006	45,200 [43]	17,037[38]
2007	46,200 [44]	8,000[45]
2008	31,000 [45]

The Norwegian sealing season runs from January to September. The hunt involves seal catching by sea-going 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.^[46] In 2006, 17,037 seals (including 13,390 harp and 3,647 hooded seals) were harvested.^[47] In 2007 the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs stated that up to 13.5 million Norwegian krone (ca 2.6 mill. US dollar) would be given in funding, to vessels in the 2007 Norwegian seal hunt.^[48]

Regulations

Norwegian seal-hunters are only permitted to use rifles to kill seals. Hakapiks are only allowed for seal catching.^[49]

Export

In Norway in 2004, only Rieber worked with sealskin and seal oil.^[50] 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.^[32]) Rieber had the majority of all distribution of raw seal oil in the world market, but there was no demand for seal oil.^[32] From 1995 to 2005 Rieber annually received between 2 and 3 million Norwegian krone in subsidy.^[51] In a 2003-2004 parliamentary report, it says that CG Rieber Skinn is the only company in the world that delivers skin from bluebacks.^[52] 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, 5 percent is sold in Norway, the rest is exported to the Russian and Asian market.^[26]

Fortuna Oils AS (established in 2004) is a 100% owned subsidiary of GC Rieber.^[53] They get the majority of their raw oil imported from Canada.^[54] They also have access to raw oil from the Norwegian hunt.^[54]

[edit] Russia

The Russian seal hunt has not been well monitored since the break-up of the Soviet Union.^[55] The quota in 1998 was 35,000 animals.^[56] There have been reports that 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.^[57]

On September 21, 2007 in Arhangelsk, the Norwegian company 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 2 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.^[58] 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 include both helicopter-based hunt, mainly to take whitecoats, and boat-based hunt, mainly targeting beaters.^[59]

[edit] Sealing debate

Canada has become the center of the sealing debate because of the comparatively large size of its hunt.

[edit] Cruelty to animals

According to recent studies done by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), the hakapik, when used properly, kills the animal quickly and painlessly. Several American studies carried out from 1969-1972 in the Pribilof Islands of Alaska came to the same conclusion.^[60] The Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing in Canada, also known as the Malouf Commission, claims that properly performed clubbing is at least as humane as the methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, and according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), these studies "have consistently proven that the club or hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely."

A study of the 2001 Canadian seal hunt conducted by five independent veterinarians, commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), ^[61] concluded that, although the hakapik is a humane means of hunting, many hunters were not using it properly. This improper use, they said, was leading to "considerable and unacceptable suffering," and in 17 percent of the cases they observed, there were no detectable lesions of the skull whatsoever. In numerous other cases, the seals had to be struck multiple times before they were considered "unconscious."^[62] These findings are at odds with the CVMA report which states that Daoust, at the same time and in the same location, recorded that 86 percent of skulls had been completely crushed by strikes with hakapiks. It states further that two years previously, Bollinger and Campbell had recorded that 98.2 percent of the skulls examined were completely crushed.^[63]

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."^[64]

The 2001 report contained a number of recommendations on how sealing could be conducted more humanely. They did not, however, recommend the disuse of the controversial hakapik. Actually, the report recommended more training, mandatory blink-reflex tests for unconsciousness, and the cessation of open-water hunting. The report also recommended that seals be bled out immediately after clubbing, in order to ensure that the animals are unconscious when skinning begins. This is a recommendation taken in response to incidents of seals regaining consciousness after clubbing.^[65] It has also been strongly recommended that seals killed by guns to be shot to a quick death, not be wounded and left to die. The 2002 CVMA report, however, indicated an average time of 45.2 seconds between the animal being shot and a sealer killing it with a hakapik. The report concluded that this time compared well with established and acceptable humane killing practices according to the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards where acceptable times range from 45-300 seconds.

[edit] Ecological feasibility

According to the DFO, the harp seal population is now stable at about five million animals, three times as many seals as in the 1970s. They say that Canada's annual quota of 325,000 harp seals, and an additional 10,000 harp seal allowance for new Aboriginal initiatives, personal use, and Arctic hunts, does not significantly impact the harp seal population. Protestors respond that this figure represents only a fraction of the total number of seals killed, because many seals' bodies fall into the water or under the ice and are not counted. The CVMA has replied that this is untrue for the Canadian seal hunt, and that the Canadian seals that have been "struck and lost" is less than five percent (16,250 animals) of the total harvest. They suggest that this is because, in Canada, the majority of seals are killed on the ice, not in the sea. [2]

Greenpeace has further stated that the quota is an unreliable estimate of the total kill, not only because of "struck and lost" statistics, but also because seals with pelt damage are discarded and not accounted for.^[66]

[edit] Objections to fur

Main articles: Fur farming and Fur clothing

Animal welfare advocates object to fur, when many synthetic "faux fur" alternatives are available. On the other hand, fur advocates will claim the material's superior warmth, style, and that it is a renewable resource. It is often argued that real is superior to synthetic fur that is petroleum based product and can release highly toxic prussic acid into the environment. Real fur is completely biodegradable and lasts longer. Others counter that the chemicals used to process fur are highly toxic and therefore negate any environmental advantage of fur over synthetic products. Recently, however, great strides have been made in producing commercially tanned pelts using more environmentally friendly processes.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Economic impact

According to Canadian authorities, the value of the 2004 seal harvest was $16.5 million CAD, 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 that this represents only a tiny fraction of the $600-million Newfoundland fishing industry. Sealing opponents also say that $16.5 million is insignificant, compared to the funding required to regulate and subsidize the hunt. For 1995 and 1996 there are confirmed reports that The Department of Fisheries and Oceans encouraged maximum utilization of harvested seals through a $0.20 per pound meat subsidy.^[67] 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.^[68] Some critics, such as the McCartneys (see below), have suggested that promoting that area as an eco-tourism site would be far more lucrative than the annual harvest.^[69]

[edit] As a culling method

In March 2005, Greenpeace asked DFO to "dispel the myth that seals are hampering the recovery of cod stocks." In doing so, they implied that 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. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans have responded that there is no connection between the annual seal harvest and the cod fishery, and that the seal hunt is "established on sound conservation principles."^[70]

[edit] Protests

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.^[71]

Protesters occasionally use images of whitecoats, despite Canada's ban on the commercial hunting of suckling pups. The HSUS explains this by saying that images of the legally hunted "ragged jackets" can be nearly indistinguishable from those of whitecoats. Also, they report official DFO kill reports show 97 percent of the seals killed over the past five years have been under three months of age, and the majority has been less than one month old.^[72]

On March 26, 2006, seven protesters 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.^[73] In the same month, as part of a counter-protest, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams encouraged people in the province to boycott Costco after the retailer decided to stop carrying seal-oil capsules.^[74] Costco stated that 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.^[75]

[edit] Belgian ban

In January 2007, Belgium became the first European country to ban all seal products in a unanimous vote of Belgian parliamentarians.^[76] Shortly afterwards, Greenland claimed it would sue Belgium for a move that it said would violate European Union law and cripple the livelihood of Inuit hunters. Greenland's minister for finance and foreign affairs expressed concern that other EU countries might follow suit.^[77] Canada has launched a challenge to the ban. ^[78]

The European Union executive commission has rejected appeals for an EU-wide ban on the import of seal fur products in response to an EU assembly vote in 2006 in favour of one.^[79][80]

[edit] Celebrity involvement

Numerous celebrities have opposed the commercial seal hunt, including Richard Dean Anderson, Charles Aznavour, Kim Basinger, Juliette Binoche,^[81] Sir Paul McCartney, Heather Mills, Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Pamela Anderson, Martin Sheen, Mogwai_(band), Pierce Brosnan, Paris Hilton, Sara Quin,^[82] Loretta Swit, Robert Kennedy, Jr.,^[83] Rutger Hauer,^[84] Brigitte Bardot, John Paul DeJoria, Ed Begley, Jr., Dave Foreman, Farley Mowat, Linda Blair, Berkeley Breathed, Rolf Harris, the Red Hot Chili Peppers,^[85] Jet, The Vines, Hawthorne Heights, Pink, The Darkness, and Good Charlotte.^[86]

In March 2006, Brigitte Bardot traveled to Ottawa in March to protest the hunt, though the prime minister turned down a request for a meeting. During the same month, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills McCartney toured the Gulf of St. Lawrence 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.

On March 27, 2006, singer Morrissey released a statement saying that he would not include any dates in Canada on his world tour that year.^[87] In July 2007, British/Australian artist and television presenter, Rolf Harris released an acid-techno single entitled "Slaughter on the Ice," made in collaboration with electronic music artist Steve Lima. The song is based on a poem of Harris's that graphically depicts the nature of the hunt and his view of hunters.

[edit] In fiction

Kipling's The White Seal, part of The Jungle Book, describes seal hunting from the seals' point of view, with the central character being a white seal seeking for his seals a safe haven from hunters.

Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf takes place aboard "the schooner Ghost, bound seal-hunting for Japan" circa 1893.

[edit] See also

• Flipper pie
• Seal finger
• John Davis (sealer)
• Odd F. Lindberg
• Whaling

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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