Every year the gruesome
spectacle is repeated in Newfoundland on Canada's east coast. Scores of
fishermen and hunters gather off the coast of Newfoundland to kill thousands of
seals. Newly-born seals and their mothers are clubbed to death or drowned in
icy water. Despite international protests, the slaughter continues.
Over the years,
environmentalists have launched numerous attacks against seal hunting.
Supported by noted celebrities such as the French actress, Brigitte Bardot, and
other well-known personalities, some measure of success has been achieved. The
international market for the soft white fur of the baby seal has practically
collapsed.
Newfoundland's
Provincial Fisheries Minister, John Efford, managed to convince the Canadian
federal government in Ottawa to permit the killing of 285 000 seals. The
exercise, however, drew heavy criticism from observers of the International
Fund for Animal Welfare who claimed that close to 500 000 seals were killed.
Efford had defended the
seal hunt as being absolutely necessary. He said that the culling of these seals
was neither done for sport or game, nor for their fur. Instead these seals were
killed to save the livelihood of local fishermen who viewed the seals as pests
and a threat to their source of income.
These fishermen claim
that the seals feed on the codfish that proliferate in the waters off the coast
of Newfoundland. They lament that this has consequently resulted in a drastic
fall in the number of codfish and subsequently thwarting their efforts at
earning their wages as commercial fishermen. "The seal herd is so large
that it has exhausted the food chain," explain the fishermen. The
seriousness of the situation has prompted the fishermen to appeal to the
federal authorities in Ottawa to approve the culling of an additional
two million seals.
The Federal Fisheries
Minister, however, has rejected the idea saying that current scientific
knowledge does not support such a drastic move. At the same time, the
Parliamentary Fisheries Committee has begun a special investigation into the
matter. Scientists, too, are trying very hard to determine how much damage the
seals actually cause. "There's no scientific consensus on the impact of
seals on cod stock regeneration," said the head of the research section of
the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
No accurate information
on the number of seals living in the northern Atlantic appears to be available.
In 1994, the estimate was set at about five million mammals, and in early 1999
a very rough estimate was made at six million seals.
In an effort to counter
and appease international protest, Efford suggested a completely new approach.
Rather than view the seals as pests, he urged that they be regarded as a source
of food. "There are hundreds and thousands of people going hungry each day
in the Third World," he said.
Summary: Every year, the
fishermen and hunters of Newfoundland gather off the coast of Newfoundland to
kill thousands of seals despite much international protest. These fishermen
justify their action as being necessary because their livelihood as commercial
fishermen is being threatened. They claim that codfish numbers are drastically
being reduced as seals are feeding off them. Rejecting an application by the
fishermen to cull two million seals the government and scientists are now
looking into the matter. A new approach is now being considered - that seals be
regarded as a source of food rather than as pests.
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