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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: March 2008

Atlantic Canada sealing starts off Nova Scotia

 

 

The 2008 Atlantic Canadian sealing season started with a mid-February cull on Hay Island, off Nova Scotia, demanded by fishers who blame seals for the failure of cod to recover despite 16 years of fishing limits.

"Nova Scotia already has a yearly quota of 12,000 grey seals, but in recent years hunters have rarely taken more than a few hundred annually," reported John Lewandowski of Canadian Press.

Acknowledging that the primary purpose of the Hay Island cull was to try to stimulate commercial sealing, Nova Scotia fisheries minister Ron Chisholm authorized participants to kill up to 2,500 seals. They actually killed about half that many. The main part of the seal hunt is due to open in late March.

The European Food Safety Authority in December 2007 published a report on the Atlantic Canada seal hunt that essentially agrees with the view of animal advocates that sealing is inherently inhumane. The European Parliament has favored banning imports of seal pelts and products, but the European Union commissioned another report by a Danish consultant that is expected to oppose a ban. Belgium unilaterally banned imports of Canadian seal products in April 2007.

Canada contends in a protest to the World Trade Organation that the ban violates international trade rules.