Canadian Harp Seal Hunt Flops - Little Ice, One Buyer, Hardly Any Sealers Participated - SMH

A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and a European boycott have ruined what was to be a banner seal hunt off Canada's Atlantic coast this month. Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea last month increased by 50,000 the allowable catch of harp seals this season to 330,000, in defiance of a ban on seal products by the European Union.

But most of Canada's 6000 sealers stayed home, unable to find buyers for their catch or stymied by a lack of ice floes for the first time in 60 years on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which usually host hordes of seals birthing pups. "The European boycott was devastating to the industry this year, as was the lack of ice on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence due to an exceptionally warm winter," Jean Richard, Canadian fisheries department conservation chief for the Quebec coastal region, told AFP.

"The hunt, as a result of reduced market demand, has been scaled back substantially," added Larry Yetman, fisheries resource management officer for the Newfoundland and Labrador coastal region.

Fewer than 50 sealing ships launched from Newfoundland ports, down from 500 in past years. Others would have eagerly set out to reap this year's higher pelt prices - at $US21 ($22.50), nearly double last year's prices. But there was now only one local buyer, NuTan Furs, which said upfront it would buy fewer than 15,000 pelts from a dedicated group of sealers this year. "Every sealer in Newfoundland would have considered going out on the ice for that price, but there aren't any buyers," Yetman said.

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/eu-ban-and-lack-of-ice-hit-canadas-seal-hunt-20100416-sigs.html

The news about the environment is upsetting, but I'm not upset at all about the failure of the seal "harvest."

thought it said "hardly any Seals participated" I think I need some caffeine this morning.

nt

The hunters stayed home because the seals are gone, because the ice floes are gone.

Their habitat is disappearing.

Apart from poor environmental conditions, the EU boycott deserves some credit for the poor seal harvest season. Russia's ban also deserves credit.

"On March 18, Putin labeled the annual hunt of the animals a "bloody industry" that "should have been banned a long time ago." Putin's words and law put Canada further into isolation on the seal-hunting issue.

Sheryl Fink, a researcher for the International Fund for Animal Welfare based in Guelph, Ont, was positively shocked by Putin's decision. The Russian branch of the organization held rallies in cities across Russia last month, but after years of fruitless campaigning, Mr. Putin's support caught them off guard. "It highlights the fact that Canada is still in the Dark Ages on this issue. It's astounding when even the government of Russia is more willing to listen to its own people than ours is," Ms. Fink said.

Yury Trutnyev, the Russian Minister of Natural Resources, announced a ban on the hunting of all harp seals less than one year old. "This bloody hunting is from now on banned in our country, as in most developed countries. This is an important measure to preserve Russia's biodiversity," he said. The Russian ban effectively ends commercial seal hunting in that country, as most of the market for pelts comes from seals less than a year old, reported The National Post. A quota had previously allowed for the harvesting of up to 35,000 seals in the White Sea, near Russia's border with Finland."

http://www.russiablog.org/2009/03/putin-bans-seal-hunt-canada-isolation.php


"A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and a European boycott have ruined what was to be a banner seal hunt off Canada's Atlantic coast this month. Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea last month increased by 50,000 the allowable catch of harp seals this season to 330,000, in defiance of a ban on seal products by the European Union.

But most of Canada's 6000 sealers stayed home, unable to find buyers for their catch or stymied by a lack of ice floes for the first time in 60 years on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which usually host hordes of seals birthing pups. "The European boycott was devastating to the industry this year, as was the lack of ice on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence due to an exceptionally warm winter," Jean Richard, Canadian fisheries department conservation chief for the Quebec coastal region, told AFP."

> ... this year's higher pelt prices - at $US21 ($22.50), nearly double
> last year's prices. But there was now only one local buyer, NuTan Furs,
> which said upfront it would buy fewer than 15,000 pelts from a dedicated
> group of sealers this year. "Every sealer in Newfoundland would have
> considered going out on the ice for that price, but there aren't any buyers,"

How come the price is double last year yet the demand is SFA?
I thought that a high price would mean there was an even higher demand
than last year.

Whilst I'm very glad that the demand *is* that low, what is keeping the
price so high?

Maybe I just need more coffee?

Still, here's hoping that a whole bunch of the seal killers go bankrupt as a
result and that the Canadian government find the spine to ban the trade rather
than raising "quotas" on already-struggling creatures.