Environmental group defends Canada's seal hunt
Mar 11, 2009
MONTREAL (AFP) — A Quebec environmental group on Wednesday called on the European Parliament not to ban seal products, saying it would hurt the Gulf of Saint Lawrence ecosystem and local communities.
Nature Quebec, part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said in a letter to EU parliamentarians that a proposed ban "could have grave consequences" for residents of the Magdalen Islands and Newfoundland province.
If the 350-year-old seal hunt were stopped now it also would damage the "ecological balance" of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, it said.
The group cites studies which found that the seal population, if unchecked, would boom and threaten North Atlantic cod stocks.
It also notes that the annual cull does not threaten the local seal population, estimated at 5.5 million in 2006.
More here....