Commercial Seal Hunting
"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."
--Leonardo da Vinci
Since the early 16th century, Canadian seals have been mercilessly stalked and beaten. This is the commercial seal hunt in all its glory. A part of our sick, twisted heritage.
The seals hunted commercially in North America and Greenland are the Harp, Hooded, and Grey seals. Eighty percent of the seals landed are the "young of the year," between 12 days and 1 year old.
Harp seals called whitecoats are illegal to hunt. This means they have not yet begun to moult. Harp seals are usually whitecoats for less than two weeks.
Hooded seals called bluebacks are also illegal to hunt. Hooded seals can be classified as bluebacks until about 15-16 months of age. This, as well, is when they begin to moult.
The Canadian hunting season officially runs from November 15 to May 15 each year. The actual time that hunters hunt, though, is from early March right through May until they reach their quota. The Greenland hunting season runs from June to September, so the seals are pretty much in constant danger.
The methods hunters use vary depending on the intended purpose of the kill and the age of the seal. The youngest seal pups, usually referred to as "beaters," start at 12 days old and are beaten on the ice with either clubs or hakapiks (a device resembling a heavy ice-pick). These seals are used primarily for their coats. Meat and other organs are left on the ice to rot. Later in the season, the older seals are shot with a rifle on the ice and in the water. These seals are generally used for meat, organs, oil, flippers, etc. It is illegal to use nets to catch seals.
The problem with setting things as "illegal" in the seal hunt is that these things are virtually ignored. The hunt is not enforced nearly as much as it could or should be. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) don't seem to be the ones regulating the hunters. In fact, the only group watching the sealers seems to be the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
"I have now reviewed new video evidence obtained by IFAW during the 1998 commercial seal hunt. Even though a full year has passed since the 1997 footage was released, it is clear that the DFO, which is responsible for monitoring this hunt, and the Canadian Sealers' Association, which promotes this hunt as well-regulated, have done nothing to ensure that seals are not suffering and that the relevant provisions of the Marine Mammal Regulations and the Criminal Code of Canada are upheld," said Dr. Mary Richardson, a respected veterinarian who has been Chair of the Animal Care Review Board for the Solicitor-General of Ontario, Director of Animal Welfare for the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and Animal Welfare Committee Member for the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.
The commercial seal hunt in Greenland is virtually without laws or regulation, posing a major threat to the sustainability of the seal populations. It is estimated that if the Canadian seal hunt continues at the rate it has been in recent years, the Greenland seal hunt will wipe the seal population to nearly nothing within a few years.
In 2000, the DFO issued 11, 623 commercial seal hunting licenses; 91, 602 harp seals were landed from a quota of 275,000 in Canada; over 100,000 harp seals were landed in Greenland; and more were killed in nets or wounded. "Landed" seals are those that land at seal processing plants. In 1998, a study was done that determined only 55% of seals killed were classified as landed in that year.
NOVA SCOTIA AND THE SEAL HUNT
The bulk of the seal hunt occurs in Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Magdalen Islands. This area is referred to as the "Front." The portion of the bloodshed that is perpetrated in Nova Scotia occurs on Sable Island and in the waters east of Cape Breton.
In Nova Scotia, usually only Harp and Grey seals are hunted. The DFO issued 104 licenses in Nova Scotia in 2000. 9458 seals were landed in NS in the last ten years. 342 grey seals and no harp seals were reported as landed last year.
Grey seals, like harp seals, moult at about 2-3 weeks old. Once they begin to moult it is legal for licensed hunters to kill them.
The grey seal's Baltic population is listed as endangered on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals. The West Atlantic population that resides in Eastern Canada is not listed as endangered.
In the wild and free from hunters, female grey seals can live for up to forty years and males can live for up to thirty.
In 1998, it was revealed that a sealers' organization in Nova Scotia had asked the Canadian government for permission to kill 25,000 grey seals per year for the next three years and to market the resulting seal products. The Canadian Fisheries Resource Conservation Council also called in 1999 for an experimental commercial seal hunt of up to 20,000 grey seals on Sable Island. The Canadian government has permitted the killing of a few hundred grey seals per year in areas other than Sable Island since 1999, and has announced that additional proposals for grey seal hunts will be considered.
The grey seals are hunted because they sometimes damage fishing nets, eat commercially valued fish, and carry a parasite called the codworm, the larvae of which live in fish and reduce their commercial value. They are hunted for commercial uses like organs, meat, oil, and flippers. Many grey seals, especially young ones, get tangled in fishing nets and drown.
For more information please visit IFAW!
Click HERE to see a Seal Hunt photo gallery!
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