Atlantic Canadian Musings

 

Ban or No Ban?

People were left scratching their heads in bewilderment today as to whether or not the EU seal product trade ban would come into effect on Friday, August 20th.  Earlier today Prime Minister Stephen Harper blasted the impending EU ban – which will prohibit trade in seal products from all nations – as being discriminatory against Canadian sealers who he described as “hardworking people of modest means.”   A few hours later Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced the EU seal product trade ban had been suspended until further notice after Inuit leaders questioned the legality of the ban.  Further confusion ensued when conflicting reports were issued by the European Commission stating the trade ban would indeed pass into law on Friday and Canadian media outlets stating the ban had been suspended at the last minute.

 

Brutality Against Canada’s Baby Seals – Approved by Canadian Inuit

One thing, however, is no longer in doubt — the Inuit of Canada support and defend the abject cruelty of the Atlantic Canadian commercial seal hunt.  Canadian Inuit have stated in the past they stand in solidarity with eastern sealers and had launched a challenge against the EU seal product ban earlier this year.  Inuit have complained that, although the ban specifically exempts products from traditional Inuit hunts, it would devastate their economy and would prevent them from hunting seals.

 

Inuit Hunt – Subsistence or Commercial?

Rebecca Aldworth, Executive Director of Humane Society International/Canada questioned the logic and motives of the Inuit challenge to the EU seal product ban:

“The EU ban on seal product trade eliminates EU trade in products of inherently inhumane commercial seal hunts, but specifically exempts products from traditional Inuit hunts.

If the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is now claiming the prohibition will negatively impact their seal hunt, they are directly inferring that their hunt is conducted for commercial, rather than traditional subsistence, purposes.”

Very good points.  I’d be most interested to hear National Inuit leader and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Mary Simon’s response to this. 

 

Inuit Whored Out by Government for Benefit of Atlantic sealers

In 2006 Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society reported that a few years previously Brian Roberts, senior advisor to the Canadian Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, had addressed a conference of whalers in Iceland and urged the exploitation of native people to defend commercial whaling:

In his address, Roberts outlined specific strategies that commercial whalers can use to undermine anti-whaling campaigns, drawing from the heated debates on sealing and the fur industry in Canada.

“The first step was to neutralize the appeal of the animal protection lobby,” Roberts said. “To accomplish this it was necessary to mount an equally emotionally powerful counter-appeal. This counter-appeal was based on the survival needs of aboriginal communities which depended upon the continuing taking of fur-bearing animals.”

Roberts said that this lesson would be useful to the whalers in “your own efforts to deal with a poorly informed and emotional public, and with politicians seeking electoral approval from such publics.”

In other words, Roberts speaking on behalf of the government of Canada was openly saying that Native people should be used as politically-correct and emotional arguments to win favor for commercial whaling.  

Interesting, no?  Wait, it gets even more interesting.  In a 2001 memo from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs regarding maneuvoring seal products past the U.S. seal product trade ban implemented in 1972, it was recommended the Canadian government ”play the Nunavut Inuit card as leverage to open the door to obtaining a waiver and have the east coast sealers follow.”  Sneaky.

And for some strange reason, the Inuit have been more than happy to be used as pawns in the Canadian government’s defence of the inherently cruel and unprofitable slaughter.  Their eagerness to be whored out to the world for the benefit of Atlantic Canadian sealers is backfiring – they are rapidly losing the support of their fellow-Canadians.  When I first became involved in this issue, people told me they supported the Inuit subsistence hunt.   Today, however, I’m hearing a completely different story.  Many people have expressed to me their disgust with the Inuit’s alliance with the brutal Atlantic sealers and have advised they have withdrawn their support for subsistence hunting.

 

Delaying the Inevitable

Realistically, sealing advocates have not prevented the trade ban on seal products; they have simply delayed the inevitable. 

Says HSI Canada’s Rebecca Aldworth:  “This suspension is temporary in nature and, while affording time for the applicants to present their case before the European Court of Justice, does nothing to prevent the EU ban from coming into force prior to the 2011 commercial seal hunt.“  Sheryl Fink, senior researcher with International Fund for Animal Welfare, agrees the suspension is a minor delay and confirms the EU made the right decision based on solid facts of the seal slaughter.  She also points out the European Commission voted to implement the ban in response to the wishes of its own citizens, and believes the Canadian government should show the same respect for the wishes of its citizens.  “I would hope that the Canadian government will listen to its citizens, who predominantly do not want to see a commercial seal hunt continued in this country.”

Polling consistently shows the majority of Canadians are opposed to the commercial seal slaughter and object to their tax dollars being used to subsidize and defend it both at home and abroad.  Yet every year the Canadian government lavishes millions of our tax dollars upon the inherently cruel, unsustainable and unprofitable industry.  Add to that financial burden the further cost of expensive WTO and joint Inuit/Atlantic sealer challenges, and one is left once again scratching one’s head in bewilderment, wondering why on earth the government of Canada is pouring BILLIONS of dollars into an industry that is economically negligible.  A licence buyout would be markedly cheaper and a long-lasting solution, so why this stubborn determination to waste more of our taxes on a losing battle?  It’s just too bad the Canadian government didn’t see fit to lavish a fraction of that money on the homeless and poverty-stricken across Canada.  But clearly Atlantic sealers/fishers’ votes are far more important than the Great Unwashed Masses across this country.

This morning I happened upon a media release on the DFO website entitled ‘Government of Canada Protects Canadian Oceans and Wildlife‘.  Snorting derisively, I read the release which proudly proclaimed Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was marking World Oceans Day by announcing “two Areas of Interest for potential designation as Marine Protected Areas under the Oceans Act” as well as three new National Wildlife Areas.

“World Oceans Day is a time to acknowledge the vested interest all Canadians have in ensuring the health of our oceans,” Shea is quoted as saying in the press release.  She uses such rousing phrases as “…our commitment to ensuring that ocean resources thrive for the benefit of our communities” and “…demonstrate the Government of Canada’s commitment to conserving and protecting our country’s unparalleled natural beauty“  This from a woman who’s considering turning our newest national park – iconic Sable Island – into a death camp, slaughtering and burning 220,000 grey seals (including, inevitably, nursing whitecoats and their mothers) using heavy loaders, incinerators and wood chippers, a venture which will not only prove fatal for the seals but also for Sable Island’s fragile flora and fauna…O that Gail and her wacky sense of humour! 

Government of Canada protecting Canadian Oceans and Wildlife?  I think not.  One cannot protect our oceans and wildlife with destructive fishing practices, bumbling incompetence, and bloody hakapiks and wooden bats.

Given DFO’s track record of sacrificing conservation in the name of political expediency, it is certainly laughable they are now claiming to be the protector of our oceans and wildlife.  DFO has mismanaged cod into commercial extinction and now seems determined to drive scapegoated seals – including grey seals in provincial nature reserves and national parks – to the brink of extirpation.

I sent Shea an email pointing out all of the above points and suggested she resign before she “protects” our oceans and marine wildlife into oblivion.  I suggest readers of this blog send her an email as well.  I know she’d love to hear from you.

Not content with giving the stamp of approval for Nova Scotia sealers to slaughter defenceless grey seals in protected areas of Nova Scotia such as Hay Island and Sable Island, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Natural Resources has set another wildlife species in this province in his sites – the eastern coyote.

Minister of Natural Resources John “If-It-Moves-Kill-It” MacDonell announced a $20 bounty on coyotes in this province in response to growing public hysteria after a spate of coyote-human encounters, one of which proved tragically fatal.

There has been talk of a bounty for some time now but experts had warned documented evidence indicated that bounty programs were unsuccessful in temporarily or permanently reducing coyote abundance (or subsequently reducing livestock depredation, for that matter); in fact, just the opposite was proven – studies showed that coyotes respond to culls simply by having larger litters.  So now the government believes by implementing a bounty encouraging professional trappers to trap and kill coyotes for $20 a pop, that will instill a fear of humans into coyotes and discourage them from straying too close in future.

MacDonell is quick to point out this is not a cull for population control, stating “this is more of a people-safety thing, so I’m not expecting to eliminate coyotes” and adding 75% of the population would have to be killed for 50 years for adequate population management.  Well, the government seems to be off to a good start on that, since its goal is to reduce the coyote population by 50% in the first year.  Conversely, MacDonnel added, “I don’t care what it’s [the coyote population] reduced by, to be honest.  I’m more concerned about getting rid of the animals that might be a problem.“  I wonder how his department came up with the decision that 50% of the population – 4,000 of the estimated 8,000 – is “a problem”? 

For some politicos, 50% is 50% too few.  Colchester County Councillor Mike Cooper believes Nova Scotia should completely exterminate its coyote population.  “Bounties don’t work,” says the bloodthirsty councillor during this week’s council session. “You might as well get rid of them. They’re hunting in packs now.“  Hunting in packs…who else hunts in packs?  Oh yes, humans.  Maybe they need to be exterminated as well?

Mike O’Brien, a provincial wildlife biologist, said scientific research supports the cull, which should result in the remaining coyotes keeping their distance from people.  “Should?”  So what, we’re going to slaughter half the population of coyotes in this province because it “should” or “might” work?!  But wait, this is the government.  Why am I surprised…I would like Mr. O’Brien to point me in the direction of this research, as I haven’t seen it yet and would be interested in reading it.  Alfie MacLeod, the Conservative natural resources critic, is supportive of a bounty although he has no clue whether or not it will be effective.  Says Mr. MacLeod, “Is it the right solution? We won’t know until this is allowed to have a chance to work.”  Another subscriber to the redneck philosophy of “let’s kill us a whole bunch of critters to see if it works, hyick”.

The bounty is facing opposition from some unexpected parties.  Tony Rodgers, executive director of the Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters, has criticized MacDonell’s move, saying a bounty is “a politically motivated waste of taxpayers’ money.”   You’d think that Mr. Rodgers would be happy, since only licensed trappers are eligible to take part in the bounty, and trappers are part of the organization’s membership. 

Even more importantly, the mother of the victim of a fatal coyote attack is speaking out against the bounty.  Emily Mitchell, whose 19 year old daughter Taylor was tragically killed by coyotes while hiking in a park in Cape Breton National Park last October, is aghast that a bounty has been implemented.  Ms. Mitchell says her daughter would have opposed the bounty and would be devasted to think they’re using her attack as one of the reasons they’re implementing the bounty.  Ms. Mitchell is calling MacDonell’s decision a knee-jerk reaction, adding, “It upsets me and makes me very uncomfortable.  You’re going out and killing wild animals who, for the most part, are just going about their business. I just think, and I know my daughter felt exactly the same.” 

Liberal natural resources critic Leo Glavine called MacDonell’s decision ”an overreaction prompted by public concern” and has accused the government of removing information critical of culls from its website.  He also says the minister is bending to political pressure rather than making a decision based on sound science.  I’m pleased to see Mr. Glavine speaking up against the senseless killing of coyotes, since he seemed to have lost his voice when it came to voting against Bill 50 permitting the senseless slaughter of thousands of defenceless baby grey seals on protected Hay Island.  Mr. Glavine’s criticism is sincerely appreciated by bounty opponents.

Clearly, the NDP government is caving in to public hysteria.  As tragic as Taylor Mitchell’s death was, it was an isolated incident.  We need public education, not lethal traps.  The public needs to be educated on how to avoid confrontation and to live in harmony with the wildlife in their area.  Here are just a few ways we can do that:

• Stop leaving pet food out and secure all rubbish bins, ensuring no rubbish or food is left on the ground;
• Stop leaving pets outside – coyotes typically eat rabbits and rodents and if hungry enough will naturally eat a pet.  Why people leave their cats out at night and start shrieking when a coyote or raccoon makes off with them I’ll never know.  If you love Fluffy, you’ll keep her inside!!
• Learn what to do (and more importantly what NOT to do) should you come face-to-face with a coyote.  Make yourself look as large as possible, yell, wave your arms, throw rocks.  Make sure you’re not blocking a coyote’s path.  Do NOT turn and run from a coyote as that will trigger a predator/prey response and will lead to an attack.

Those are just a few of the things we can do to co-exist as peacefully as possible with coyotes.  I don’t profess to have all the answers but I know one thing:  killing is not the answer!  I’ve walked in the woods, nervous of coming face-to-face with a wild animal.  But I would never contemplate slaughtering the wild animals to allow me to walk unafraid through those woods.  There seems to be a mentality in this region that animals are either a “sustainable resource to be harvested” or a “pest to be exterminated.”  It seems to slip everyone’s mind that these are sentient creatures we’re talking about – mammals capable of feeling pain and fear.  When dogs and cats are caught in traps their humans speak out in outrage at the horrible death their pet suffered.  It doesn’t seem to cross their mind that the wildlife targeted suffer a death equally horrible in those traps.  Why is it unacceptable for a dog but perfectly acceptable for a coyote?  Because one is domesticated and one is wild?  This is a morally schizophrenic viewpoint which is not acceptable in the 21st century.  It’s akin to eating cows and pigs and being horrified by others eating cats and dogs.  The cruelty is the same.  All suffer the same fear and pain.  So why is one okay and not the other?

If you’re against the NS coyote bounty, please feel free to join a new Facebook group – Stop the Nova Scotia Coyote Bounty.

This is my fourth year witnessing the commercial seal hunt on behalf of the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition. Each year I see such brutality and savagery that I feel nothing would surprise me anymore. Yet each year I am shocked anew – not only at the vicious and barbaric manner in which baby seals are killed by Canadian sealers, but at the Canadian government which continues its campaign of misinformation, attempting to pass the annual slaughter off as humane and regulated. It is neither.

This year I am also shocked at the silence of the Canadian media. The slaughter of baby seals began in this area of Newfoundland known as ‘the Front’ on April 8, with tens of thousands of harp, hooded and grey seal pups to be inhumanely slaughtered for their skin, yet the Canadian media has virtually ignored it.

Each year, international journalists converge on Canada to document and report on the commercial seal hunt. To date, no Canadian journalist has documented the killing of baby seals. This year the complete silence of the Canadian media on the annual slaughter is deafening.

Canadian media turns out in droves to report on Canadian politicos dining on seal flesh at Parliament Hill, Canada’s Governor General gobbling up raw seal heart from seals killed at her request and Miss Newfoundland naively throwing her support behind the commercial seal hunt. But the Canadian media is nowhere to be found when seal pups are being viciously and savagely slaughtered for their skin. Why is this?

This year’s seal kill is especially controversial in light of the record-high pup mortality caused by unprecedented low ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Equally controversial is the fact that three of the four buyers of seal skins in Canada are not buying anything this year, as they have stockpiled pelts from previous years which they have not been able to sell. The fourth buyer, rumoured to be a prominent Newfoundland seafood company, has commissioned the purchase of 40,000 – 50,000 seal skins, which leads many to question why a large number of skins are being bought when no markets exist, and who exactly is putting up the money for these seal pups to be killed.

The cruelty I have witnessed here this year is forever etched on my memory. I have seen baby seals shot in the face and left to paw frantically at their injuries. I have seen conscious pups impaled on metal spikes and hauled across the ice, sliced open from face to flipper on the decks of sealing boats and left to die slowly. I have witnessed multiple and repeated violations of law by sealers resulting in extreme animal cruelty while DFO consistently looked the other way.

The Canadian government has made a grave mistake in allowing the slaughter to proceed this year. Due to unprecedented low ice resulting in record-high pup mortalities, Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was asked to cancel the hunt as a precautionary measure. Shea refused, indicating she was leaving that decision in the hands of sealers. A decision that should have been made by marine biologists and climate specialists was made by fishermen wielding clubs and guns. The slaughter proceeded and licensed observers filmed each act of cruelty and each violation of law by sealers, compiling an incriminating case against the commercial sealing industry and the Canadian government which subsidizes and defends it.

The Canadian government can kiss goodbye any chance they feel they might have to win a WTO challenge to overturn the EU seal product ban. As we leave Newfoundland, we take enough evidence to shut down this outdated and cruel industry forever. Perhaps on that day the Canadian media will see fit to report again on this issue which is so important to all Canadians.

This morning I went with the ProtectSeals team in the zodiac to continue documentation of the slaughter. Unfortunately, high winds and waves prevented us from reaching the sealing boats and reluctantly we turned back for the long, wet and uncomfortable trip back to shore.

Fortunately, team members in the helicopter equipped with the Cineflex camera located sealing boats and documented the day’s slaughter, catching more evidence of cruelty and violations.

Watching these defenceless pups being killed is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. To watch helplessly as pup after pup suffers unbelievable agony at the hands of these sealers, and to be unable to do anything to protect or save them, is damaging to the soul. But I remind myself there is a purpose to my presence. By being there I am helping to ensure this barbaric practice is stopped and future generations of seals will not suffer the same fate. I am there to witness their deaths and to share my experiences with others as a counter to government propaganda spread by politicos such as Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, who have never seen the commercial seal hunt and have no authority to make representations as to its humaneness.

I am here representing the many Atlantic Canadians who are outraged this slaughter occurs in our region using our tax dollars while the government lies to the world, claiming we support the bloodbath.  I am here to assist in any way I can to shut this industry down.

And we are shutting this industry down.  As videotaped evidence of the abject cruelty of the commercial seal hunt is shared with the world by groups Humane Society International and International Fund for Animal Welfare, more and more people are speaking up in disgust, joining the Canadian seafood boycott and urging their governments to ban trade in seal products.  Even sealers are recognizing this industry is doomed and a recent poll showed half of Newfoundland sealers holding an opinion favoured a license buyout.

We have seen a shift, in the past couple of years particularly, with fewer seals killed as more and more markets close to the grisly products of a cruel industry.  But our work isn’t done yet.  One seal shot and bludgeoned to death on the ice is still one far too many.  We will continue our efforts to ensure NO seals are killed.  We will not stop until ALL seals are protected.  That day is coming soon.

This is my fourth year witnessing Canada’s east coast commercial seal hunt with the HSUS ProtectSeals team. Each year I see such brutality and savagery that I feel nothing could ever surprise me again. Yet each year I am shocked anew – not only at the vicious and barbaric manner in which baby seals are killed by Canadian sealers, but at the lies the Canadian government continues to tell, claiming this slaughter is humane and regulated. I see it with my own eyes each year and know it is neither “humane” nor “regulated.”

From a helicopter equipped with a powerful Cineflex camera, Rebecca Aldworth and I watched through a monitor the bloodbath unfolding below us on the ice. We watched in horror as baby seals resting peacefully on the ice were showered with bullets by Newfoundland sealers.  These seals were not killed outright by the bullets – they very rarely are – they were merely wounded and suffered horribly for minutes at a time while the sealing boats made their way to them.  Instead of immediately putting the pups out of their misery, the sealers inflicted yet more savagery on them, striking their heads with hakapiks then, often without checking to ensure the pups were unconscious, stabbing them through the face with hooks and dragging them across the ice to hoist onto the sealing boat.  Time after time Rebecca and I were horrified to see the wounded pups exhibiting conscious reaction to pain as they were stabbed through their face and they were hoisted through the air into the boats. 

One of the many horrible images forever burned onto my memory is that of two small pups laying on the ice.  A bullet ripped through one pup and as he rolled over onto his back in pain, the second pup was shot in the face.  The second pup began crawling around in confusion and pain, snaking a thick trail of blood behind her.  She crawled for an agonizingly long time, forming almost a complete figure-eight in her blood.  Finally after what seemed an eternity, she was shot again and lay still.  At that moment the first pup rolled over onto his side and we realized he was still alive.  The sealer jumped out onto the ice and slammed the hakapik into his skull twice.  Then, without checking to ensure the pup was dead or irreversibly unconscious (as sealers are required to do as a condition of their sealing license) he hacked at the pup’s head with the sharp spiked end of the hakapik, stabbing him through the face and hauling him to the boat where he was tossed on deck.  The sealer then returned to the second pup, bludgeoned her twice and, again without checking she was unconscious, hacked at her head twice, impaling her through the face and hauling her across the ice and onto the boat while her flippers clenched in pain.  We flew our helicopter over the deck of the boat and were sickened to see one of the pups still moving.  Instead of killing the pups, the sealers simply flipped them over onto their backs, sliced their bellies open from face to flippers and left them there to suffer until they finally died.

But this is just one of the horrors I witnessed today – just one of the images that will forever be burned onto my brain.  We saw so much abject cruelty and so many violations resulting in needless suffering that we felt sick as our helicopter returned to base.  And DFO did nothing.  But this is nothing new.

DFO claims repeatedly the seal hunt is “closely monitored and tightly regulated.”  But where was DFO as we watched for hours sealers violating their license conditions time after time and inflicting horrendous suffering on defenceless baby seals?  A Coast Guard vessel was in the area but clearly, DFO officials were either not monitoring the boats or chose not to notice violation after violation.  On previous days, sealers were flagrantly violating their license conditions right in front of a Coast Guard icebreaker and again DFO officials were either not doing their job or chose to look the other way while baby seals suffered.

The truth of the matter is, even if DFO had the will to monitor and regulate the commercial seal slaughter, it would be physically impossible to do.  The area commercial sealing takes place is vast, and only a handful of Coast Guard boats are present.  There is no incentive for sealers to adhere to the Marine Mammal Regulations and the terms of their sealing license because they know convictions are few and far between and penalties are negligible – a pittance of a fine that equals a slap on the wrist.

And so the Canadian government continues to spread its lies to the general public in Canada and abroad, trying to mislead the public into thinking the seal hunt is humane, monitored and regulated.  This despite the overwhelming boddy of evidence that is amassed each year by licensed observers.

I said at the beginning of this year’s hunt that the Canadian government was insane to allow it to continue this year.  First, due to unprecedented low ice many harp seal pups perished in record-high numbers.  Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was asked to cancel the hunt as a precautionary measure but Shea indicated she was leaving that decision in the hands of sealers.  So the slaughter proceeded and licensed observers HSUS and IFAW filmed it, compiling an incriminating case against the commercial sealing industry in Canada and the Canadian government which subsidizes and defends it.

The Canadian government can kiss goodbye any chance they feel they might have had to win a WTO challenge to overturn the EU seal product ban.  The evidence that HSUS and IFAW have collected will be taken to Europe and it will be shown that, contrary to claims of the Canadian government, the Canadian commercial seal hunt remains as inherently inhumane as ever.

The commercial sealing industry in Canada is over, and sealers and Canadian government have nobody to blame but themselves.  Through their own greed and cruelty they have caused damage to this great country, staining our reputation in the eyes of the world and bringing economic hardship on other Canadian industries such as seafood and tourism.  Even Newfoundland sealers are recognizing it’s over and are now indicating they’re finally interested in a license buyout from the government.  This is something sealing opponents have been requesting for years, but government and industry were resistant.

After many decades of campaigning to end this atrocity, we are very near our goal.  I will rejoice when the industry is shut down permanently and no more baby seals will die a horrific death at the hands of fishermen wielding clubs and rifles.  I will travel to the harp seal nursery ice to spend time with baby seals knowing they are safe, and instead of mourning their deaths I will celebrate their lives.

 

Not much riles a Newfoundland sealing supporter more than the mention of the word “hakapik.” Utter that word and watch them begin frothing at the mouth with righteous indignation, sputtering “We don’t use hakapiks! We use rifles! We don’t club seals! We shoot ‘em!”

Oh yes, Newfoundland sealers do indeed shoot seals. Newfoundland sealers shoot baby seals in the face and watch them as they crawl across the ice, fall into the water, and scrabble back onto the ice, shaking and pawing at their mutilated faces in agony.  Newfoundland sealers shoot baby seals in the back of the neck, taking massive chunks out of them but leaving them to suffer for five minutes or longer as they leisurely make their way to them finally to put them out of their misery.

BUT…after those pups have been shot and left suffering on the ice…Newfoundland sealers DO club baby seals.  Newfoundland sealers DO use hakapiks.  Newfoundland sealers very rarely kill a pup outright with a single bullet to the brain.  Even if they were expert marksmen, the chances of killing pups quickly and painlessly are NIL.  Sealers stand in boats heaving in rough waters, shooting at pups moving on icepans that are bobbing up and down.  More often than not, bullets do not kill the pups or render them unconscious.  In those cases, the pup is killed by blows from a hakapik.  Sometimes the sealers get out onto the ice to club the pups, but other times they just stab the wounded conscious pups through the face or jaw with a gaff (large metal hook on a pole) and haul the pup onto the boat, oftentimes stabbing the pups a second time as it’s hoisted onboard.  Sometimes the wounded pup falls off the gaff into the water, where it either dies slowly or is impaled and hoisted up again by the sealers.

It always amazes me when sealing proponents swear Newfoundland sealers don’t use hakapiks; only guns.  As if shooting baby seals is somehow more humane than clubbing?!?!  I’ve been observing sealers shooting baby seals for four years now and can attest to the fact that shooting is every bit as cruel as clubbing – oftentimes even more so.

Anyone who claims Newfoundlanders don’t club seals is a liar.  Or an idiot.  You decide.

Seal pups battling to survive catastrophic ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence will be bludgeoned and shot to death by sealers as the commercial seal hunt begins on the east coast of Canada today.  Ignoring calls for the cancellation of the annual kill in light of unprecedented low ice and record high pup mortality, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans instead raised the quota to 388,200, up by 50,000 from last year.

When asked to close the Gulf to commercial sealers as a precautionary measure, Fisheries Minister Gail Shea stated that decision would be made by sealers.  DFO insists the commercial seal hunt is based on science and the precautionary approach, but its actions contradict that claim.  Important decisions which should be made by marine biologists and climate specialists are being left in the hands of fishermen wielding clubs and rifles – men who have a vested interest in driving seals to the brink of extinction and beyond.  This is not a plan for conservation; it is a plan for extermination.

The decision to raise the quota and allow the seal hunt to continue is incomprehensible.  Anti-sealing campaigners believe it is a political move, a pugnacious nose-thumbing to the EU and other critics, and an empty gesture of support to sealers.  It is the latest in a long line of increasingly bizarre gestures, including Canada’s Governor General publicly eating raw seal heart in retaliation of the EU seal product ban; the failed motion of the Canadian parliament to dress Canada’s 2010 Olympic team in sealskin; forcing seal products onto G7 finance ministers during last month’s Summit in Iqaluit; and the recent addition of seal meat on the parliamentary restaurant menu.

Taken in context, the raise in quota does not come as a surprise. DFO, after all, has a history of sacrificing conservation in the name of politics.  Just a few examples would be Sakinaw Lake sockeye salmon, steelhead and salmon in Prince Rupert and Fraser River, porbeagle sharks, polar bears, and of course Atlantic Cod, which DFO mismanaged to commercial extinction.

In 2007, my first year observing the icommercial seal kill, DFO estimated in excess of 90% of pups born in the Southern Gulf had perished when their nursery ice melted prematurely.  Inexplicably, DFO allowed sealers to kill the few surviving pups as they desperately clung to slushy icepans.

DFO makes decisions based not on conservation and science, as it claims, but on economics and political expediency.  The Department routinely ignores the advice of its own scientists and the will of Canadians, the majority of whom oppose the slaughter and object to their tax dollars being used to subsidize and promote it.  Every year millions of our tax dollars are lavished on the crumbling industry as the government panders to the fishing/sealing lobby for Atlantic Canadian votes.

DFO confirmed most pups born in the southern Gulf had perished but insists overall herd population is healthy.  However, with increasing pup mortality rates and outrageously high quotas, seal herds are undeniably under stress.  Realistically, even if DFO acknowledged seal populations were in jeopardy, history shows it would do nothing to protect them if it meant making a politically unpopular decision.  Atlantic Canadian fishers stubbornly cling to the myth seals are responsible for groundfish stock depletion, despite the absence of science to support those claims, and are intent on annihilating a species they view as competition.  Clearly, the government is quite happy to assist them in reaching this goal.

DFO assures us there is no cause for concern, as this is only one bad ice year.  Wrong.  Ice conditions in the Gulf have been getting progressively worse in the past 10 or so years, culminating in this year’s record-low levels.  How many lethal ice years will it take before DFO acknowledges there is a problem?  By the time DFO admitted cod stocks were in trouble, it was already far too late.  Is it too late for Canada’s seals?

The article for which I was interviewed was published in the McGill Tribune today – take a look.

Chalk another marine ecological Disaster-in-Progress up to Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, currently run by Minister Gail Shea.

Yesterday a proposal to ban trade in Endangered bluefin tuna was voted down.  Guess how Canada voted?  Canada voted against a trade ban.  Why?  Because PEI fishermen told the Minister a ban wasn’t necessary.  Experts advise that bluefin tuna numbers have declined by as much as 82% since the 1930s due to over-fishing and if fishing of this species continues, it will become extinct.  But hey, who needs all that pesky science when greedy fishermen from PEI say we don’t need a trade ban on this Endangered species?  DFO certainly doesn’t let science stand in the way of helping Atlantic Canadian fishermen drive species to extinction, so why should we pay it any mind? Commercial fishers aren’t the only ones wanting to decimate the bluefin tuna population.  Halifax is home to the Nova Scotia International Tuna Tournament when “international boaters rednecks gather in Halifax in a competition to catch the largest tuna.” All proceeds from the sale of the dead tuna goes to IWK Health Centre, a local hospital for women and children. Isn’t that a lesson to teach the kids – it’s okay to kill endangered species as long as you’re having fun…

But the Canadian government didn’t stop there.  Our government also wants to drive polar bears to extinction, and voted down the proposal for a trade ban on polar bear body parts.  Why?  Because Inuit claim to rely on the revenue they derive from delivering up polar bears (which have been listed as Endangered since 1975) to rich Americans to shoot for sport.

These two species join a long list of species sacrificed by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the name of economics and political expediency.  They join sockeye salmon in Sakinaw Lake (“In January 2005, a final decision was made by the Government of Canada to not list Sakinaw Lake sockeye salmon under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), due to the significant socio-economic impacts on sockeye fishers and coastal communities.“);  and Prince Rupert salmon; and stellar sea lion (“Although the Steller sea lion has suffered from many years of being hunted, since 1970 it has been protected in Canada under the federal Fisheries Act which prohibits commercial hunting of the steller sea lion. There have been instances where permits have been granted for the killing of the Steller sea lion, in an attempt to protect fish farms being preyed upon by the animals.“)and Atlantic cod which has been fished to commercial extinction…

And then there is the porbeagle shark, which was designated as Endangered by the Committee on Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.  The Committee recommended to DFO that porbeagle be listed as Endangered on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act.  In 2006 the Canadian government decided not to list porbeagle due to the economic impact of such a listing on the commercial fishing industry (“…porbeagle shark is not being added to Schedule 1, because…listing the porbeagle would eliminate the directed porbeagle fishery and also prohibit the sale and trade of porbeagle shark that is by-caught in other fisheries. This would result in economic losses for some fishers and associated industries in coastal communities and the loss of industry-based sources of information on the species.“).   Again, economics trumped conservation.  Those are just a few examples.  DFO has a long history of sacrificing conservation in the name of economics and political expediency.

To add insult to injury, our Fisheries Minister is dancing on the grave of bluefin tuna, applauding the decision and claiming “responsible management practices of Canada’s bluefin fishery helped swing the vote.”

Responsible management practices?  One need only look at how DFO mismanaged our cod stocks into commercial extinction to see through yet one more of Gail Shea’s lies.

Neil LeClair, P.E.I.’s fisheries minister was quoted as saying “We never thought there should have been a ban and the way we fish our tuna here and our conservation measures and the way the fishermen themselves look after the stock, there really was no indication that there should be a ban whatsoever.“ 

Hmmm, maybe Minister LeClair doesn’t realize that bluefin tuna are highly migratory.  There is no “our” tuna.  This means that once “our” tuna leave “our” waters (if they manage to make it out alive, that is, with all those greedy PEI fishermen gunning for them), they will be fished to extinction elsewhere.  Maybe Minister LeClair should give the implications of this further thought.  But then, he’s not being paid to think – he’s being paid to do what the fishermen tell him to do.  This is, after all, Atlantic Canada.  It’s part of our heritage and culture for our politicans to pander to the fishing and sealing lobbies and thumb their noses at the rest of us.

Canada found allies for its anti-bluefin tuna ban in Japan and China.  Japan is infamous for illegally slaughtering whales in the antarctic, rounding up and slaughtering dolphins in coves, and cutting fins off sharks before throwing them back in the water to drown.  And China…well, China skins cats and dogs alive for their fur and flesh. Gail Shea recently traveled to China on a sealskin-shilling mission.  The Canadian government said China has a very good potential as a market, referring to the fact that the Chinese aren’t troubled by animal welfare, will eat anything and protests are not allowed by government.  Are these really the types of countries with which Canada wants to align in matters of animal welfare and conservation?  I think not.

Gail Shea proves time and time again that she is a menace to our oceans.  She must be removed from her position immediately.  I received a very timely email this morning with a link to an online petition calling for Gail Shea’s resignation.  I signed it with gusto and encourage you to do the same.  Be sure to leave a personal message as this always gives your signature more impact.