Fisheries minister says Canada backs seal hunt despite market concerns

sanctus

The Padre
Oct 27, 2006
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Ontario
www.poetrypoem.com
By Chris Morris
MONCTON, N.B. (CP) - Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn says Canada will push back against negative messages about the annual East Coast seal hunt, but it will not back down.
Some processors attending a New Brunswick fisheries meeting on Saturday said they are worried they may lose customers because of the controversy and protest surrounding the seal hunt.
Hearn said the Canadian government is working hard to counter anti-sealing campaigns, with the message that the seal hunt is humane and sustainable.
"We have to make sure that people who ask questions about the hunt are aware of the truth and not what they see from some group still going around showing 20-year-old video of sealers clubbing whitecoats," Hearn told reporters during a break in the two-day fisheries summit in Moncton, N.B.
"Some of these people say the herd is disappearing. When we had the large northern cod stocks some years ago we only had two million seals. We have one per cent of those cod stocks today and we have six million seals."
But some people in the Atlantic fishing industry are worried Canada may be losing the public relations battle.
Crab processor Paul Boudreau of Tracadie, N.B., said in the last four or five weeks processors have received inquiries from customers asking for guarantees that they have nothing to do with the annual seal hunt.
"In the past two weeks, I received two different inquiries and I had to write letters to these customers saying that, no, our company, McGraw Sea Food, is not involved in the hunt," Boudreau said.
"This is a serious problem from a Canadian point of view because Newfoundland and Labrador companies are involved. This is coming from the market, so we don't really know what the final result will be."
Opponents of the seal hunt in the United States have mounted boycotts against Canadian seafood in restaurants across the country. As well, they are continuing their efforts to encourage countries to close their doors to seal products.
The European Union is being pressured to ban the products, but has decided to first conduct an in-depth study of the seal hunt to establish whether it is humane or not.
The British government said recently it will press its neighbours in the European Union for a total ban on the import of seal products.
Hearn said Canada is joining with other sealing countries, including Russia and Norway, to promote the hunt and seal products.
"So collectively we're doing push back," he said.
"We are getting out the information and we are encouraging people to come and see for themselves and then make up their minds."
However, people who do want to see the hunt for themselves may have a more difficult time this year.
Hearn said he will decide soon whether to stiffen regulations for hunt observers, possibly by increasing the exclusion zone around sealers from 10 to 20 metres.
That wider zone will make it much more difficult for observers to see what hunters are doing on the ice.
Hearn said he will announce the quota for this year's hunt within the next few days. The hunt is expected to begin by late March.
Last year's quota was about 335,000 seals.
"There are concerns that we may be losing some of the seals," Hearn said, pointing to last year's poor ice conditions.
"If that's the case, we'll adjust the quota this year. If not, we're OK where we are."
More than 6,000 Atlantic Canadians - most of them from Hearn's home province of Newfoundland and Labrador - were actively involved in the hunt last year.


Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
 

stevek

New Member
Mar 9, 2007
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CTV's Coverage of protest

Did anyone else notice on the Constantly Trivial Network's coverage of the two 'naked' seal hunt protesters that there was a flash of black underwear on one of them. The reporter should have asked if they would prove they were actually naked before giving them airtime.
 

CDNBear

Custom Troll
Sep 24, 2006
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Is this still really an issue???

Shoot the lil fluff balls, make me some seal skin boots(keep the meat, it sux).

Besides, the hunters are doing the seals a favour, they're killing them off quicker then global warming will.

Yay!!!
 

tamarin

House Member
Jun 12, 2006
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The federal fisheries minister is full of sh*t. As usual. I'd like nothing better than to throw the bugger on an ice pack and give him/her (Loyola?) thirty seconds head start.
The seal hunt is a barbaric reminder that Canada can't be trusted in environmental matters.
 

CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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The federal fisheries minister is full of sh*t. As usual. I'd like nothing better than to throw the bugger on an ice pack and give him/her (Loyola?) thirty seconds head start.
The seal hunt is a barbaric reminder that Canada can't be trusted in environmental matters.
Barbaric???

How so?

Meat and fur does not grow on trees, neatly pre celo wrapped you know!!!
 

CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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Don't start to confuse the debate with the domestic animal issue. Shame on you, Bear. You know better.
Thanx for the vote of confidence. Perhaps it was my up bringing or my present lifestyle, but I make only one distinction between store bought and wild game, flavour. So you can see how we may dissagree on the the domestic vs wild analogy.

Clubbing lil Harpees, is all, but a thing of the past, it's like shooting fish in a barrel now. Although I care not for the meat, the pelt, when made into garments, is amazingly warm, comfortable and if made by someone that knows what they are doing, dry.

I hunt and fish, the only part of the seal hunt, I have ever had any great issue with, was the clubbing, but even that wouldn't sway me from understanding that the practice is as old as Canada and a part of an entire group of Canadians traditions.

I see nothing barbaric in feeding ones family, making a profit or culling a parasitic species.
 

BitWhys

what green dots?
Apr 5, 2006
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People still get their shorts in a knot about about one-five-hundred two-hitters. Most of them are shot dead in their tracks by high-powered rifles anyways. The population is doing fine and the meat feeds our depleted fish stocks.

Last years protests put the price of the furs up. Wonder whose marriage its going to break up THIS year. :laughing7:
 
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CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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People still get their shorts in a knot about about one-five-hundred two-hitters. Most of them are shot dead in their tracks by high-powered rifles anyways. The population is doing fine and the meat feeds our depleted fish stocks.

Last years protests put the price of the furs up. Wonder whose marriage its going to break up THIS year. :laughing7:
LOL Bit.
 

#juan

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Aug 30, 2005
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Without prejudice one way or another, I don't think there is a more humane method of killing the seals than the club that is currently being used by most seal hunters. The animals are dispatched almost instantly with one or two blows. A rifle would be less effective, and would damage the pelt. I suggest that the people who are against the hunt shouldn't watch it.
 

BitWhys

what green dots?
Apr 5, 2006
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Without prejudice one way or another, I don't think there is a more humane method of killing the seals than the club that is currently being used by most seal hunters. The animals are dispatched almost instantly with one or two blows. A rifle would be less effective, and would damage the pelt. I suggest that the people who are against the hunt shouldn't watch it.

people just don't want to admit the obvious...

it looks kinda fun. :mrgreen:
 

tamarin

House Member
Jun 12, 2006
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Fun? I thought the same when it was once suggested the Newfs should be similarly dispatched. Granted I am an excellent shot, but even I have scruples.
 

hermanntrude

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jun 23, 2006
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Newfoundland!
Without prejudice one way or another, I don't think there is a more humane method of killing the seals than the club that is currently being used by most seal hunters. The animals are dispatched almost instantly with one or two blows. A rifle would be less effective, and would damage the pelt. I suggest that the people who are against the hunt shouldn't watch it.

my father in law sometimes hunts seals. he uses a gun I think. I suspect this is more common now. You hit them in the head and the major part of the pelt is still fine. I assume he sells the pelts and I know we eat the ribs and maybe other cuts too. the ribs are delicious.

Please bear in mind the seals are much worse than the spanish for stealing our cod stocks. If we stopped hunting seals the cod would be extinct in a decade
 

darkbeaver

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Jan 26, 2006
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Beating animals to death humanely is an act of kindness and a time honoured tradition.The seals used to be skinned alive on a routine basis. I've never seen or heard of a similar protest about the brutal handling of fish who are regularly beaten senseless and skinned alive and packed and wrapped still wriggling, fresh frozen is best you know.:laughing7:
 

BitWhys

what green dots?
Apr 5, 2006
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Fun? I thought the same when it was once suggested the Newfs should be similarly dispatched. Granted I am an excellent shot, but even I have scruples.

It doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. Alberta has a labour shortage as it is.
 

tamarin

House Member
Jun 12, 2006
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Herman: "Please bear in mind the seals are much worse than the spanish for stealing our cod stocks. If we stopped hunting seals the cod would be extinct in a decade"

Absolute baloney! Misinformation of the most egregious form. It is human and ministry mismanagement at the highest professional levels that has contributed to the cod collapse. It is not the seal that is the culprit.
 

BitWhys

what green dots?
Apr 5, 2006
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...Please bear in mind the seals are much worse than the spanish for stealing our cod stocks. If we stopped hunting seals the cod would be extinct in a decade

um

not quite true since they also eat other predators. from what I've read their impact is rather balanced that way.