Canada Announces 2009 TAC for Harp Seal Hunt
21 March 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- Despite the lack of worldwide demand for seal fur, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has announced their annual total allowable catch (TAC) for this year, just two days after Russia announced their own ban.
Canada is allowing up to 280,000 harp seals to be slaughtered this year.
The current market for seal fur is heavily saturated, which has made the price of these furs less profitable. New seal pelt processing nearly halted by the end of 2007 and has never fully recovered. Yet, the Canadian government still allows the slaughter of these seals.
"This quota is outrageous," said Sheryl Fink, a senior researcher with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). "With the current state of fur markets, there's no place for pelts to go, even at reduced prices, yet the Canadian government has no problem allowing 280,000 seals to die even if it means the pelts will likely sit in a warehouse for the foreseeable future."
Canadian government-sponsored scientists agree that the current TAC will deplete the harp seal population by as much as 30 percent. In 2008, over 217,000 seals were killed - 99.8 percent were days or only weeks old – all fully subsidised by the Canadian government.
Currently, Belgium, Croatia and the Netherlands have national trade bans on all seal products. Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and Italy have all taken steps designed to close down markets for seal pelts. This week, Russia officially announced a complete slaughter ban of all pups under the age of 12 months.
"The bloody seal slaughter, the killing of the defenseless animals, which can't be even called a 'hunt,' is now prohibited in Russia as it is in most developed countries. It is a serious step towards the conservation of biodiversity in Russia," said Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Yuriy Trutnev on Wednesday.
"How ironic that in the same week Russia has announced it will end its commercial harp seal hunt, Canada has condemned one-third of the pups born this year to a cruel and unnecessary death" said Fink. "The Canadian government seems insistent on staying stuck in the dark ages," Fink added.
Canadian Senator, Mac Harb, introduced Bill S-229 referred as the "Harb Seal Bill" earlier this month to end Canada's commercial seal slaughter. Support the Harb Seal Bill by clicking here.
Read other articles on this topic by AnaiRhoads.org:
Seal Hunting Back in the News
Canada's TAC increased for Hunting Harp Seals
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