CTV News Montreal

Updated: Mon Mar. 23 2009 10:38:24 AM

CTV.ca News Staff

The annual East Coast seal hunt is underway in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence around Quebec's Iles de la Madeleine, despite protests by animal rights activists and international efforts to ban seal products.

About 20 sealing vessels from around the islands have moved out among the ice floes, according to Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesperson Phil Jenkins.

Some land-based hunting is underway as well, Jenkins said.

Windy conditions have pushed some of the ice against the shore, which gives land-based hunters access to the seals.

However, if the wind worsens, the herd that is close to shore may be dispersed into the gulf, Jenkins said.

The department has set a quota of 280,000 harp seals for this year's hunt -- an increase of 5,000 over last year -- out of a herd of more than 5.5 million.

About 30 per cent of the quota will be taken in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while the rest will go to the major hunt off Newfoundland's northern coast, known as the Front.

"Sealing is a significant source of income in many small, isolated coastal communities throughout Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the North," said Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea. "Our management decisions for the hunt take into account this fact as well as the advice of scientists to ensure the seal population is maintained."

Canada's seal hunt is the largest of its kind in the world.

DFO Fishery Officers will be monitoring the hunt to ensure compliance with regulations and licence conditions, and will take enforcement action "when necessary," said Shea.

Surveillance is conducted through aerial patrols, cameras, vessel monitoring systems, at-sea and dockside vessel inspections, regular inspections of processing facilities, and independent third party observers.

According to Jenkins, 16 observer permits have been issued to journalists and anti-sealing groups.

Rebecca Aldworth of the Humane Society International Canada says her group will once again be monitoring the hunt.

But she says in her opinion, the days of the annual hunt are numbered because international opposition to the killing of seals is growing.

The start of the hunt comes three weeks after a European Parliament committee endorsed a bill that would ban the import of seal products to the 27-member union.

The EU plan branded the hunting of seals as "inherently inhumane,"

In order to become law, the bill has to be approved by the entire EU assembly and EU governments.

Canada and Greenland have warned the EU that they could challenge such a ban before the World Trade Organization.

Several EU countries, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, already have their own bans on all seal products. The United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972.

With files from The Canadian Press

Comments are now closed for this story

Michelle
The world owes everyone a living. I would love to find these guys a different line of work. Taking tourists around to learn about the seals and their habitat would be nicer line of work.

Paul Smith
How can it be called a seal "hunt" when baby seals are bludgeoned to death with a stick?
This is a brutal "kill" for the sake of a fur coat that fewer and fewer people want.

Hans
Paul, 'baby seals' or whitecoats are not harvested, only mature seals, and they are shot. Also, this is not a 'brutal kill.' You should check out a slaughter house were cows, pigs, etc are processed. You will never eat a hotdog again.

spencer
We have declining fish stocks, and an ever increasing world demand for fish....the Japanese are doing whaling reasearch???....

Let's say the 280,000 seal pups join the herd and the 280,000 next year and the year after and so on.....what will that do to fish stocks ????

In 10 years will fish become so scarce and expensive we will be forced into eating seal meat ????

NB
Canada has shown to be very arrogant. These pelts will not sell for more than a buck since no one wants them!
We all know the "hunt" is about exterminating seals since, after all the overfishing done by Canadian fishermen with the DFO's blessing , there isn't enough fish for both, humans and seals.
We are right up there with China as far as the way we brutalize animals. Shame!

Chris, Irishtown NL
To allow unskillled/untrained people in such a dangerous workplace would be a recipe for disaster.

Ian from N.B.
Here we go again!

Nancy: Seals killing fish stocks - Save the Fish!
Seals breed like Rabbits and are eating our fish stocks.
Save our fish and wear seal skin boots.

Mark
Cattle, pigs, and chickens are killed indoors out of sight. Their killing is no more humane than that of the seals. The people that are opposed to this hunt are ill informed and don't appreciate the impact on the fish stocks if this hunt were to be cancelled. Thes "cute" seal pups will grow to be very effective predators and the threat to the fish supply is real. The numbers of seals taken is managed to ensure a healthy seal population.

jodie
What about killing chickens, cows and pigs for food? It's all the same thing, only these animals live in a natural place instead of a cramped barn. This is the livelihood of these men and I think unless you are completely vegan you cannot protest this hunt without being a hypocrite.

SK Biologist
This is a totally sustainable harvest of a natural resource...ever thought about the pollution that Goretex causes? Europe should mind its own affairs...

Lucy
This breaks my heart! and is totally barbaric!!!!

Many groups across Canada are working hard to put an end to Canada's commercial seal hunt. This hunt is unacceptably cruel and is impossible to properly regulate. Did you know...The Government of Canada uses your taxes to support and promote this slaughter. The hunt is mostly for fur, which is used to make unnecessary items. This is the largest marine mammal hunt in the world with over 1 million seals having been killed in the last 4 years alone... Killing seals will not help fish stocks recover.

Please urge Canada to support the Harb Seal Bill.

JB83
Hmmm... the EU bans Canadian seal products because our DFO-regulated hunt is "inhumane?"

What about the "gavage" (or forced-feeding) of fois gras in France, fox hunting in Ireland, muskrat killing in the Netherlands and bullfighting in Spain?

End these practices (which are ALL done for far more frivilous reasons that seal hunting) and then we'll talk.

Kronos
There's 5.5 million seals. What's 280 thousand. They multiply too fast so they need to be culled. And some poor people make money from it. What's the big deal? Personally I don't really care if they're shot or bludgeoned. Is it more humane to slaughter a cow or pig by slashing its throat? But you still eat steak... So stop making noise for the sake of hearing yourselves protest.

Tom hawley
Triple the seal hunt next year then double it the following.
Long live the the fish stocks.

Don O'Keefe, Goulds, NL.
Seals are bludgened to death with a stick ,Paul Smith ?? No ! they are shot with a gun ! Chickens got it harder than Seals .Most of them are killed for junk food .
Lets butcher our cows on the ice pans and see how that looks ..It wouldn't be much of a hunt either! Or perhaps you would like to wait until the seals starve to death for lack of food and to big a population !!

Scott Thomson
A 'nicer' line of work? What is a nicer line of work for people in rural areas? These people tend to do the lines of work that most people like to forget about. Farming for our food, slaughtering our food, fishing for our food, processing our food, cutting and milling our wood, and generally working their selves ragged for little pay and little gratitude. These folks are the ones who are the glue to our communities. These jobs aren't so 'nice'. Long hours and hard conditions aren't 'nice'. When people go out to do these jobs we should show respect and admiration for them for doing something that we'd rather not do. Does a job working in plastics qualify as a 'nice' job? How about fast food? What about a grocery store that turns their back on small producers and only caters to companies with a big bank account? Is the auto industry a 'nice' industry with all the pollution caused in the production and driving of these cars? This hurts all wildlife. After all the food we eat that comes from massive killing plants, or over sprayed fields we do not have any right to say to these honourable people that what they do is wrong.

Michelle
If people stopped eating fish then the seals wouldn't starve as a result of depleted fish stocks. And like auto workers, fishermen can just adjust and find a new line of work that better suits modern times.

Mike from Mississauga
The only way to stop the seal hunt, besides banning pelts, is to boycott Canadian seafood. If other countries boycott our seafood, the fisherman would stop the seal hunt real fast. Who even wears fur anymore..the times they are a changin!

Allen Bilodeau
Let the seal population get back to 30 million. Let the EU keep on overfishing the oceans. Let the Buffalo roam and repopulate..Lets go the whole nine yards..Lets tear down the cities to give back the animal habitat....or lets get real

pickle
I just wanted to point something out...I mean we are all here on earth living together...we are supposed to take care of it blah blah...There is a comment about there being 5.5 million seals, whats 280,000..

there are 6,883,381,648 people in this world depleeting its natural resources...whats 1,000,000,000?
just saying...

Dave
Its a seal there are lots of them 5.5 million and hunting, or controling their population so that they all dont die by starving to death is humaine in my eyes. no different then any other game animal that gets hunted canada wide. But i understand that people living in the city seeing the cute and cuddly seal, and the thought of it getting dispatched is an awful thought, but that is life...........

Ray NB
Green Peace makes 3 times the money in fundraising than all the hunters do in a season. Why don't they just try to pay them to stay home.
They all complain about the enviroment, but they all show up for protest in big private planes.
The hunters use 100% of the seal so stop saying it's only for the fur and NO they don't kill the babies.

Rick in NB
Paul you had better read some literture os the hunt. Even Green Peace stopped using this type of misinformation in the eighties.
As for Lucy. If this breaks your heart. Than get ready for a massive coronary. Coyotes are shot on sight in most of Canada. These are a unwanted nuisance. When bears are in season, the Americans come here and shoot them for sport. No meat taken, just the fur or only the head. And you better be a vegen, cause anything you eat had a miserable or no life next to the seal.
So before you cry someone elses crocodile tears look how misdirected your source is.

Andréa, Ontario Canada
I read the rationalizing comments about how the seals are not beaten, they are shot... Please tell me this not your pathetic attempt at feeling better about yourself. When will everyone realize that animals are just like us, and we are just like them? Would you feel better to know your child/sister/brother/mother/father was shot in the head for their skin instead of beaten with a bat?! How does that make things any better?

I am Canadian and I am ashamed at our Country’s blatant disregard for animal rights. For those of you who are thinking "oh but what about the animals in factory farms? They have it so much worse"; all I can respond is... who am I to decide which fate is worse; particularly when the outcome is the same. All forms of animal slaughter are sick and do not exude humane behavior in my opinion.

Question: How do seal hunters/factory farmers sleep at night? Probably without a single thought of the lives they've destroyed with their "nailed bats/guns/hands/prods/knives/whatever". Is this not a common trait of a psychopath?

I'm a vegan animal-activist. I will continue to work towards the rights of all animals and I will sleep well at night knowing that I have not caused any detriment to the other species of this planet; the other species that have just as much right to life, love and family as we do.

Topher09
Its funny that when the annual Native walrus hunt is on nobody bats an eye at that because walrus are ugly, baby seals are cute.
In these times of global recession how about you think what it would be like for someone halfway around the world to ban your line of work without thinking about or understanding both for the environmental and economical need of the work.
Hunting isn't pretty and may seem barbaic, but then a lot of us have the luxury of adopting a vegan lifestyle because of all the yuppie stores and restaurants available in urban centers. Before crying out about the seal hunt, try living in the Territories for a few years, see if a vegan lifestyle is practical or even possible.

Where's the Reasoning
If only bleeding hearts knew the facts, instead of simply saying "this is brutal and those poor seals". There would be a billion seals in a matter of a few years and the people that live in these areas would suffer, if this hunt wouldn't happen. The fish stocks would disappear, and there would be no work. I HATE that so many think that they know what they are talking about sitting in their cozy houses and making opinions on a couple news stories.
Self righteous, ill informed people choose to stay that way, instead of learning about a topic. Now that is what's Brutal!

Michelle: What exactly would you have these people learn in their "new line of work", that suits "modern times"? Maybe we could have a thousand people painting the scenery in NFD? Perhaps they could grow grain in the rocks eh? I assume you are sitting in a condo in a big city somewhere judging to no end. Oh, and saying "if people would stop eating fish...". I won't even comment on that one. wow.

Roger T
What a cruel way for any animal to die for the sake of money making. Obviously our gov't isn't listening to what activist have to say about animal cruelty but yet our Gov't enjoys criticizing other countries when it comes to these issues just to deflect our own internal problems. SHAME on our Gov't on allowing these hunting tactics on helpless animals.

The EU & the rest of the world should ban all products that is from Canada from seal hunting.

Mark
It is amazing to me that any human could watch the seal slaughter and not feel sick inside.

It is a shameful display of human nature.... cruelty and ignorance at its worst. There is no justification.

I hear: " Ya but, animals are slaughtered around the world"

For fashion designers? Or other non-essential products?

Shouldn't we work towards ending the non-essential killing and suffering of animals all over the world?

Isn't that what we should teach our kids?

I hear: "ya but, but it’s always been – My dad and grand-dad slaughter seals.

Relatively, we (humans) haven't been on this earth all that long. "Always been" is going back how long? O Canada.. your not that old. I don't remember the natives or our lands mass slaughtering defensless animals for non-essential needs.

In the end, isn't it our ignorance and interference that will lead to us not surviving?

John
Michelle, Paul Smith and the others that oppose the hunt, stop suffering the disney syndrome they may look cute but animals are not like they are protrayed on cartoons. The hunt is done humanly, it is done with great scientific controls and it is a major source of revenue. As for finding nicer jobs as said earlier, those of you in Toronto, Vancover, Montreal have lost touch with what happens in the real world. Where the food that you eat (yes even you vegans) comes from and the methods that brings it to you. Do the rest of Canada a favour, stick you heads back in the sand and stay out of our lives. As for the EU also as said earlier, when Norway stops whaling, spain stops bull fights and Great Briton stops fox hunts then you can talk to us and you actually clean up the enviromental damage you have done for centuries BE QUIET you also live in a glass house. Until then stay out of our business.

John

DougT
Down with the chicken hunt! I cannot support the slaughter of very cute chickens.

What is the difference?

J.C.
Is it possible that nature would adjust if there was no seal hunt? I think it would. Polar bears and whales eat seals, yet polar bears are starving. Why? Are there not enough seals for them left to hunt? Why do we need a seal hunt anyway? Maybe we should put more protection to preventing others from fishing in our waters rather than blaming the seals for the reduction in fish stocks. Nature tends to balance itself better when man stays out of the balancing act. Several years ago there was a company that wanted to set up a manufacturing plant in the east to make artificial fur. Why did the seal hunters turn this offer down rather than accept it so they would have a decent income without the dangers of a job and the slaughter of the seals? To hunt seals for food to survive is one thing but to hunt for fur is something else. They do not eat the meat. They only take the fur. This is not what I would call necessary hunting to sustain life. Let nature take care of the seal populations, and the fish stocks would rise if we put a stop to other countries massive taking of our fish.

Mark
Why is seal hunting in particular being protested? What I mean is, why protest a seal hunt and not a deer hunt, or fishing, or beef slaughtering?

honestly wondering-

Ed Brake - Ottawa
Let's pray for the safety of the sealers.

My family eat the meat and I use my seal skin vest for warmth in the frigid Canadian winter.

Time for the eco terrorists to find other ways to line their pockets while Canadians are held for ransom.

Chris in Calgary
Seals don't eat Cod for all of you scientists out there worried about fish stocks. The fishermen are now embarassing Canada's reputation abroad. Not sure how many years of University it takes to learn how to smash a 3 week old "mature" seal over the head with a stick.

Ken
Its a way of life for some maybe... heritage also for others. If you don't like it don't look at it...how many towns in the north were destroyed when the spring bear hunt was eliminated not to mention we are over run with them now. Bleeding hearts and tree hungers are killing this country. and most protesters come to the protests from other countries just for the sake of a good protest. laughable

Zach
Seal hunting is pathetic there is no reason to be killing these innocent creatures. Polar Bears are endangered as it is. Lets just add seals to the list...NO! It makes me sick to my stomach to see something so cruel.

Jabba
I am no saying that I am for or against the seal hunt, but before endorsing the hunt for the sake of our fish stocks, ask yourselves why there is an abundance of seals in the first place.

Maybe because their predators have been over hunted?

Commercial hunts are the answer to nothing. They only create imbalances in our ecosystems.

DCR-Toronto
Mark: They protest the seals, simply because they are cute when pups. After this cause they go to the next cause, until the entire country bends to their short sighted, non informed agenda. A small group of people trying to "save the world" from itself. Absolute nonsense. They'll get to the deer hunting, the fishing, the duck hunting, etc. soon enough. Some of these people haven't a clue what the real world is like outside their little bubble.

Matt
I, like most Canadians eat meat. Meat comes from animals.
Some people don't like the idea of killing animals, so they are trying to ban the killing of all animals.

The seal hunt is just convenient as they're cute, and people are ignorant of the situation. This is why they're winning the fight to ban seal hunting. They've been able to define this debate as cute animals over fur coats, not as harvesting an overpopulated animal for food.

Once they get ban the seal hunt, they will target other hunting, and continue their attack against all farm animals.

Harvesting animals in a sustainable manner, using the most humane methods available is acceptable to me.

Banning this humane and sustainable hunt is starting down the path to banning all animal products, which is the REAL goal of these people.

For the vegetarians that think banning the use of all animal prodcuts is a good idea, fish, eggs, and dairy are also animal products.

Eric Gisin, BC
When is Canada going to counter the euro seal ban with a similar ban on any animal harvest from the wild in europe?