SAVE THE HARP SEAL

What are seals hunted for? Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is responsible for setting the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for three seal species. Harp seals (Phoca groenlandica) are the primary target of the commercial seal hunt but Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) and Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are hunted as well. What is the natural life expectancy of the harp seal and at what age are they hunted? The harp seal can live up to 35 years in the wild but the vast majority hunted every year (98% last year) is less than 12 weeks old. These defenseless pups make easy targets and their “prime condition” pelts are worth more than the adults’. Is it now illegal to hunt baby seals? In 1983, the European Economic Community (EEC) instituted a ban on the importation of pelts from newborn harp seal pups (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks). The Canadian government responded to the international pressure in 1987 and banned the commercial killing of seal pups less than 12 days of age. However, the seal pups are fair game as soon as they start to molt their first hairs at 12 days old. Many of the seals killed had yet to eat their first solid food or learn how to swim. When the large sealing vessels arrive, they literally have nowhere to escape. The DFO’s own statistics indicate that the vast majority of seals killed every year are between 12 days to 12 weeks old. These are most certainly pups by any biological definition. Harp seals do not reach sexual maturity until 4-6 years of age. When and where are seals hunted? When and where does Canada’s commercial seal hunt occur? Although the season for hunting seals is open from November 15 to May 15, the majority are killed in the spring after the mother seals have given birth to their pups. The large-scale hunt usually begins at the end of March in the waters and on ice floes off Canada’s eastern coast. There are two main areas where the hunt occurs: in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, just east of the Magdalen Islands and off the coast of northeastern Newfoundland in an area known as the “Front”. The largest slaughter How many seals are hunted every year? Canada’s seal hunt is the largest deliberate slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. v Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans has authorized the killing of 335,000 harp seals, 10,000 hooded seals and 10,400 grey seals during the 2006 commercial hunt. Between 2003-2005, more than 1 million harp and hooded seals were slaughtered for their skins. Cruelty on ice How are the seals killed? Seals can be legally killed with wooden clubs, hakapiks (large ice-pick-like clubs) and guns. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, clubs and hakapiks are the killing implement of choice because they are cheaper to use and each bullet hole depreciates the value of the pelt. The seal hunt that takes place in the Front happens in April when the ice starts to break up as a result of the spring thaw. Since there is little ice to stand on, the hunters normally shoot at seals from their moving vessels. Regardless of which killing method is used, the seals suffer an agonizing death. The pups that try to escape under the ice are likely to drown along with the many seals that are wounded in the water. Is the seal hunt conducted humanely? Last year, 146,000 seals were killed in less than two days. This statistic is telling enough; these hunters do not take the time to ensure a humane kill in their race to acquire the most pelts. Veterinarians have shockingly documented seals being skinned alive. In 2001, an independent team of veterinary experts studied Canada's commercial seal hunt. Their report concluded that in 42% of the cases they examined, the seal did not show enough evidence of cranial injury to even guarantee unconsciousness at the time of skinning. Video footage taken by hunt observers shows that many sealers do not conduct the Blink-reflex Test to ensure each seal is rendered unconscious before skinning, although the test is quick, simple and required by law. The short duration of this hunt as well as the geographic and financial obstacles to monitoring the hunt, makes it impossible to ensure that the seals are killed humanely. Who hunts seals?Hunting for seals (or sealing) is an off-season activity conducted by a few thousand commercial fishers from Newfoundland and Quebec. Anyone can acquire a license to hunt seals which costs merely $5 /year. Sealers make roughly 5% of their income from slaughtering seals and 95% from the fishing industry. Do Canadian aboriginals hunt seals? Canada’s commercial seal hunt is an industrial scale slaughter conducted almost entirely by non-aboriginal people from Canada’s east coast. Less than 1% of the seals killed in the commercial hunt off the Atlantic coast may have been killed by aboriginals residing in Labrador. In the Arctic, the Inuit hunt adult ring seals for subsistence purposes. WSPA is not opposed to the hunting of seals by aboriginal people for subsistence purposes provided that it is conducted humanely at a sustainable level. When the commercial seal hunt ends on Canada’s east coast, native families will still be able to hunt individual seals for food and clothing.