Massive seal hunt quota increase seen as political message to EU Gail Shea defends decision as science-based By Anca Gurzu Published March 24, 2010    3 Comments

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Despite poor ice conditions and a slumping seal market—thanks in large part to a European Union ban on the import of products starting this year—the government last week announced a 50,000-increase in this year's seal hunt quota.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea says the decision to increase the total allowable catch for harp, hooded and grey seals to 388,200 was based on science. However, sealers and animal rights activists believe the decision was political—including an attempt to send a message to the EU.

Last year, 74,581 harp seals were killed out of a total quota of 280,000, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. That number is strikingly lower than the 217,857 harp seals killed in 2008.

Eldred Woodford, president of the Canadian Sealers' Association, said he was not surprised by the minister's decision to increase the quota since he knows the seal population has been increasing.

The current seal population estimate stands at 6.9 million, more than triple what it was in the 1970s, according to the department.

However, from the point of view of the industry, the decision makes no sense because the market continues to be very weak and ice conditions are very poor, he said.

In fact, Mr. Woodford explains that during last January's consultations with department officials, sealers and processors had requested a rollover from last year's quota, since hunters were not able to meet that year's numbers.

"I think it's more political than anything else," Mr. Woodford said. "There have been a lot of arguments in Europe that we were going to destroy the seal population. This is a means for Canada to present to the world its case that we are not dealing with a species that is threatened."

"Everybody requested a rollover and instead we got an increase," he added. " At this point, [the quota] is just an arbitrary number that we all know is not going to be reached this year."

The situation was the exact opposite in 2008, when Mr. Woodford said the government did not hike the quota enough, despite sealers' requests. In March 2008, the department raised the quota only by 5,000 to allow a total harvest of 275,000 seals.

"When we had good markets, they did not allow us to kill them, and now that we have bad markets, they're increasing the quota," he said. "It's a little bit frustrating in that matter."

Bridget Curran, director of the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition, said the minister's decision is the most recent in a series of recent public relations stunts. She pointed to the Governor General Michaëlle Jean's tasting of raw seal heart last May, and to serving of seal on Parliament Hill.

"By increasing the quota, [the department] is thumbing its nose at the European Commission," she said. "They are also trying to make it seem...that they are facilitating the sealers to do what they want."

"It's a politically-motivated and entirely senseless and irresponsible response," Ms. Curran said. "It makes absolutely no sense and her decision is even being criticized in the sealers community."

Increasing the quota also goes against the advice scientists gave officials last year, said Edward Miller, biology professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland.

A review of the total allowable catch for harp seals prepared by the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat showed that a potential harvest of 270,000 animals in 2009 "may require a substantial reduction to less than 175,000 animals in 2010 to respect the management plan."

"[The department's] proposal is scientifically ludicrous," Mr. Miller said. "This is just a proclamation without any explanation, without any doorway through which any thinking citizen of Canada can enter to know why. If you are going to increase my taxes, you are going to give me an explanation, but here it's just a pronouncement."

Ms. Shea said setting the quota for total allowable catch is something the department does every single year. The decision is based on science and is meant to ensure the seal hunting industry remains sustainable, she said, pointing to the growing seal population and to last year's low harvest number, which was far from meeting the quota.

Ms. Shea dismissed critics' accusations the move was political.

"If it was a political move, we could have put the total allowable catch at 1 million seals, but we didn't," Ms. Shea said. "[This] was not a message to anyone. We don't agree with what the European Union has done, but we'll deal with that in another forum."

Although this quota exists, it's the ice conditions and the weather that will determine the size of the hunt this year, the minister said.

Seal hunters have been complaining about poor ice conditions, which may keep some of them on dry land during this hunt season.

"We have to set a total allowable catch regardless of what the seal hunt looks like," Ms. Shea said. "This is one of the worst years on the record. The seal hunt, we expect, will probably be much smaller than in the past."

Market prices for pelts have also dropped substantially in the last few years, said Mr. Woodford.

"Seal fur is a high-end commodity and with a downturn in the global economy, it's one of those products that faced a declining market," he said. "I'm also a fisherman and I'm concerned the government is not trying to promote this industry better and try to find new markets for these products."

But this is exactly what the government is doing, Ms. Shea said.

She described the seal industry as being at a crossroad. In the past, seals were hunted just for pelts, Ms. Shea explained, but now we see a diversification of products through the use of seal meat and oil, and ongoing research on potential transplants of seal heart valves to humans.

More so, after the EU's ban on seal product imports, Canada has since been wooing China—and the minister says things are developing in the right direction.

"We're waiting to get the green light to be able to export meat and oil into China," Ms. Shea said. "This is very exciting, because that's a huge, huge market. We're going full-speed ahead to try to develop this industry to the full potential it has."

agurzu@embassymag.ca