Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 9 • Number 4 • 6th March 2009
Canada Threatens WTO Suit as EU Edges toward Seal Ban
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A committee of European lawmakers voted last week to ban all seal imports into the EU on the grounds that the hunt is inhumane, provoking a strong reaction from the Canadian government, which maintains that such a ban would cripple a key domestic industry.
“We have told [the EU] repeatedly that we will exercise all our options, Canadian fisheries minister Gail Shea said in an interview with Embassy Magazine on Monday. “And if that means going to the WTO, so be it.”
But the ban, which would prohibit the import, export, or even transport of any seal products in any of the EU’s 27 member countries, still faces some hurdles to implementation. The full European Parliament is set to vote on the proposed embargo on 1 April; EU governments also have to approve the measure before it takes effect.
Draft legislation proposed by the European Commission in July 2008 allowed two exemptions, or ‘derogations’ in trade parlance, to the ban: one for seals hunted by Inuit communities, and the other for seals killed in countries that had proved to the EU that their hunts were conducted in a humane manner.
But EU officials voted down the second exemption this week on the grounds that commercial seal hunts are “inherently inhumane” and effective monitoring of the practice is “impossible.”
The Inuit exemption was upheld, but only for products that are traded “as part of a non-commercial exchanges between Inuit communities for cultural, educational or ceremonial purposes,” the draft legislation said.
Ottawa reacted harshly to the results of Monday’s vote.
“It just exemplifies that despite our best efforts, the Europeans are still uninformed and they’re being led by what amounts to politics and emotions on this issue - and not the facts,” fisheries minister Shea said in an interview with The Chronicle Herald.
“The Europeans defined a problem, we addressed the problem, but they’re still voting for the ban. What it tells me is that their voting was to stop the Canadian seal hunt. Period. That’s why I think the Europeans are in an area that is outside their jurisdiction, here.”
But animal rights activists welcomed the move.
“In our opinion, [the exemption] probably would have allowed Canada to continue trade with the EU in seal products,” said Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International Canada. “We knew this would allow countries to sanitise their hunts on paper, while essentially the cruelty in the field would go unchecked.”
Anticipating the EU’s vote, a Canadian lawmaker, Liberal senator Mac Harb, introduced legislation on Tuesday to completely ban the seal hunt in Canada.
“In the face of disappearing markets for seal products and overwhelming international opposition, it is time for Canada to recognise that we can’t resuscitate this dying industry any longer,” Harb said in a statement.
But the draft legislations went nowhere, as not a single other senator supported it. Conservative Senator Fabian Manning called Harb’s bill “appalling” and said it would “jeopardise the rights of our sealers to provide a livelihood for their families.”
ICTSD reporting; “Canadian senator makes futile bid to ban seal hunt,” AFP, 4 March 2009; “WTO retaliation threatened as EU seal ban draws closer,” EMBASSY, 4 March 2009; “EU edges toward banning seal hunt products,” CHRONICLE HERALD, 3 March 2009.
6 responses to “Canada Threatens WTO Suit as EU Edges toward Seal Ban”
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This is not a “key domestic industry”. This is a money-losing make-work project that employs a fraction of the population of Atlantic Canada, represents about 5% of their total annual income and is funded and subsidized with taxpayers’ money. Take away the government subsidies and the industry would collapse.
Polling consistently shows that the majority of Canadians oppose the seal hunt and object to their tax dollars being used to fund and defend it both at home and abroad.
Yet the government smugly announces that it will spend yet MORE taxpayers money on WTO challenges to defend that which the taxpayers oppose.
It’s time to admit defeat, abolish the seal hunt and implement alternatives that will benefit seals and sealers alike.
Bridget Curran
Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition
Automovile workers have to move to other industry as a result of Economy dynamics. Why those seal hunters don`t move to work in any other área? It must requiere planification, of course, but Canada is a natural resource heaven and its human population still quite low. Humanity in some ways is going forward, this must not be the exception.
How Much Will the New Seal Hunt Cost the Canadian Taxpayer?
My name is Florence Grosse and I am a Canadian citizen now living in Germany. I have a different point of view of the Canadian seal hunt while I am surrounded by this controversy over the seal hunt here in Europe. I have been informing myself about the seal hunt through the media. I have read and studied the Canadian government document, Regulations Amending the Marine Mammal Regulations, from an article published in the Canada Gazette, Dec. 27 2008, the official newspaper of the Government of Canada.
The changes made in this document to the Canadian commercial seal hunt centre around making sure, at least on paper, that the seals are dead before skinning. The changes are supposed to make sure Canada’s seal hunt meets European standards so Canada can guarantee that its hunt is not cruel and be exempt from the proposed European Union ban on the import of seal products. The seals, after being shot and wounded, and after suffering for an unknown period of time are still clubbed to death as in the former regulations.
The Canadian government, in this article from the Canada Gazette, estimates that the costs of implementing the changes it has made to its regulations and the increased surveillance necessary to make sure the sealers follow these new killing rules, palpating the skull to make sure it is crushed and bleeding the seal for one minute before it can be skinned, would range between $1.8M to $3.6M in the first year and from $1.6M to $2M for every subsequent year. These costs include aircraft and dockside monitoring and extra cost to the Canadian Coast Guard who must keep the ice open and maintain search and rescue capability. Actually this hunt would be impossible if it were not for the Canadian Coast Guard who enables the sealers to reach the seals. Despite the vigilance of these brave protectors of sealers 4 died during last year’s hunt when their boat overturned and they drowned in the icy water. The hunt is very dangerous while these fisher boats are not suited to sailing in winter. The sealers are in danger from floating ice and other sealers shooting the seals.
Another cost comes from the Canadian government’s intention to pay for courses for sealers to learn how to kill seals what they have been licensed to do for years. The costs to the sealers themselves will also increase as the new regulations designed to make sure seals are dead before skinning takes time and will lengthen the seal hunt. This will increase the cost of fuel, crew wages, vessel maintenance and sealers may not attain the total allowable catch. If the seal products from Canada are banned from the EU, the $13M annual seal industry will be reduced to $6.5M. For more information read this article from the Canada Gazette to be found under the internet address:
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/part1/2008/20081227htmlregle1-e.html
Why must Canadian tax dollars be used to continue an industry that is damaging to Canada’s reputation in the rest of the world? Why not use some of the millions of dollars set aside for the seal hunt to retrain the sealers to jobs acceptable in the 21st Century?
Canada Respects Seals ?
In the article in the Canada Gazette, the official newspaper of the Canadian government, Dec.27 2008, the Canadian government describes as one of its objectives to maintain Canada’s good standing internationally as a country that respects the wildlife within its jurisdiction. This sounds very good on paper but the reality of the seal hunt, as it has been conducted in the past and will most likely be conducted in the future, indicates otherwise. Any government that describes the killing of seals as harvesting as though they were a wheat crop or fishing with a gun as though they are fish instead of the intelligent, sensitive, warm blooded mammals they are, as anyone who has seen them perform in water shows or circuses will know, cannot have much respect for them and, of course no concern for animal welfare. The sufferings of these animals do not bother the Canadian government. Why is it that the Canadian government while Canada has one third of the world’s polar bear population, does not put these animals, threatened by global warming, on its endangered species list. Why is it still possible, if you pay for a license, to shoot polar bears in Canada? These are the natural enemies of seals and could help to keep their numbers down if this is necessary.
Another objective of the Canadian government is to support an economic activity and a way of life for thousands (about 6000) coastal Canadians who depend on the seal hunt for income (about 5-30% of their annual income) and food security. The Canadian commercial seal hunt cannot be seen as a way of life. Perhaps the traditional Inuit hunt of adult seals could be considered a way of life. It is hard to see the Canadian commercial seal hunt, where 275,000 young seals are killed in 2 weeks to provide fur for high priced, high fashion items for people with too much money, as a way of life. Killing young seals, 1-3months old, massed on the ice, without enough experience to get away, is a cruel slaughter and calling it a harvest does not change this. Scientists say that these young animals have not yet built up a thick enough layer of fat on their bodies to protect them from icy waters so this is why they do not swim away. In fact this slaughter does not even deserve the name of a hunt. There is not much skill involved in bashing such a young animal over the head until it is dead. All you have to be is brutal!! You have to convince yourself that these animals don’t suffer or that their sufferings are not important.
The Canadian commercial seal hunt is a cruel hunt that does not belong in the 21st Century. We are no longer dependent on fur for clothing. Why doesn’t the Canadian government use some of the 2-3 million tax dollars, it intends to spend on the seal hunt in the future, to retrain sealers to jobs acceptable to the rest of the world especially the EU and the USA. From a letter from the office of Caroline Lucas MEP, member of the European Parliament, she states that an import ban on Canadian seal products would be entirely consistent with EU and world trade rules enshrined in the GATT, General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, both of which allow exceptions to free trade on the grounds of public morality, a concept understood to include animal welfare issues. The Canadian commercial seal hunt is inherently cruel while the conditions under which it takes place make it so. It is also unnecessary and there is no justification for continuing it. Many Canadians would like to see it end. It is truly shameful that so many Canadians keep silent while their government uses their tax dollars to ruin Canada’ reputation in the rest of the world.
To read about the changes the Canadian government has made in its regulations regarding the killing of seals look under this address: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/part1/2008/20081227htmlregle1-e.html
These changes are concerned only with making sure seals are dead before skinning and ignore the cruelties involved in killing them.
Its a shame that Senator Harb’s bill did not go anywhere and a shame that we will continue this primitive practice of kill baby seals for the fur industry. Do not tell me that its providing jobs. The Gov’t can spend the millions it spends on war oversease to creat jobs in Canada.
Why, oh WHY is this happening? The seal slaughter was stopped in the ’70’s because of people’s extreme opposition. Why was it allowed to come back five years ago? Why must we continue to RE-FIGHT causes already won??? It’s nothing to do with the “industry” or cultural needs of Inuit. If the Inuit feel they must continue this barbaric practice, then let them, in a limited, humane fashion, just to get this bill passed. Then we can fight that battle later. Gail Shea needs to be gotten out of that government - RIGHT NOW! I’m (to my shame) a Canadian, and right now, the Canadian government equates to Japan, and believe me, that is a real insult.