Canada: The Annual Seal Slaughter

My essay from this previous year :) it was like 100 points... and I got an A! Looking to improve my essay writing skills for the upcoming year.

Ms. Naimo

Sophomore Literature

5 May 2012

Canada: The Annual Seal Slaughter

Canada has always been known for its many fisheries, exporting their products all around the world and contributing to Canada’s $1.4 trillion GDP (“Protect Seals”). For years harp seals have been blamed for the steady decline of Canada’s fish, particularly cod, resulting is a massive, annual seal slaughter across Canada; creating jobs for fishermen during their off-season and some extra cash from the fashion industry for the seal pelts (Raeside, “Seal Hunt Facts”). Much controversy has been formed from this as people question whether it is necessary, and the dangerous effects this could potentially have on Canada.

This annual “harvest” continues because of a demand for seal products, primarily fur, although there is a small market for seal oil. Along with this, another main reason for the slaughter is due to a frantic attempt to bring back the Canadian cod industry by killing off the seals, who are assumed to feed on the cod (“About the Canadian Seal Hunt”). The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is liable for this claim. However, many people sense that the government, which continues to subsidize the hunt, is feeling the pressure to cover up for the DFO’s incompetence and over fishing that occurred over ten years ago. (Paul Watson, “Earth First! Journal”) The DFO continuously provided overestimates of the cod population to attract international fishing fleets. This allowed the policy makers to set higher quotas, or the allowed number of catch. In 1992 the cod were near the brink of extinction, and the government was forced to shut the industry down for fears that the population would disappear if the fisheries remained open (“Cod Moratorium”). The DFO then declared the hunt for seals crucial to the recovery of the cod industry.

The seal killing season lasts a regulated time of November 15 to May 15, according to Fisheries and Aquaculture Management, Canada. The deed of the killing is carried out by Canada’s commercial fishermen during their off-season; they make very little money off the hunt, causing less than 6,000 fishermen to participate each year. The hunters travel on boats to the coast of Newfoundland; the seals’ seasonal breeding grounds. Not only is this where the seals feast on the abundance of food, this is where they will have their pups. During this time, as many as 300,000 seals are slaughtered using guns, clubs, or “hakapiks”, which are heavy wooden clubs topped by a barbed metal hammer head (“Seal Slaughter”).

In the early stages of their life, baby seals go from a yellowy color to a pure fluffy white, which they will keep for up to three weeks (“About Seals”). Canada has banned the slaughter of these seals, more commonly known as “whitecoats”. However, most seals are still killed before their third month of life (“Seal Slaughter”). When the hunters see the seals from the boats, their first job is to crush the seals’ skull, either by blow from a club or by a bullet. Then the seals are bled to death by having their arteries cut beneath the flippers (Ashley Fitzpatrick, “The End of the Seal Hunt?”). The hunters are then able to skin or otherwise process the seal, depending on what they are selling it for. Every year that the hunt occurs, up to 300,000 seals are killed using this method. Even worse, if the seals are being sold for their skin or fur, they are likely to still be conscious. The main sealskin company in Canada will deduct $2 for each bullet hole they find, (“About the Canadian Seal Hunt”) so hunters are not apt to shoot more than once, and the seal may be inaccurately stunned and still able to comprehend and feel pain before they are skinned. They are then sold for a few extra dollars in the hunters’ pockets, and provide reassurance for the cod fishermen who believe that there will be more jobs once the falsely accused seals are removed.

This cover-up operation not only has no scientific evidence behind it, but it is only worsening the environmental problems in the north, including the depletion of the cod population. Harp seals are opportunistic feeders, meaning they eat many different species. It is estimated that only 3 percent of the seals’ diet is cod, but the rest mostly consists of many predators of the cod, such as squid. This is why scientists are concerned that the increasing number of cod predators could further devastate the population and inhibit the recovery of the fish stocks in Canada, rather than help it (“About the Canadian Seal Hunt”). Evidence has also been shown that the killings are contributing to a bacterial infestation on the ocean floor, which could possibly lead to a disruption in parts of the ocean called hypoxia. Hypoxia would cause patches in the ocean to lose all dissolved oxygen, and would therefore not be able to sustain cod, or any types of marine life for that matter. This condition has the potential to devastate the ecosystem of Canada’s oceans if it is left disregarded (Raeside, “Seal Hunt Facts”).

The government of Canada reports that the seal hunt is entirely necessary to maintain a successful economy. This is a widely accepted claim; however, what most citizens don’t realize is that the government is spending hundreds of thousands of tax payers’ dollars to subsidize the hunt every year. These subsidies take a variety of forms, such as funding for the seal processing plant workers, development trips, and capital acquisitions for the processing plants. Millions are also spent on icebreaking for the sealing vessels, and search and rescue for sealing crews. Perhaps the most costly operation of the seal hunt is the enforcement of the Marine Mammal Regulations; which the Canadian government has estimated totaled between $1.8 and $3.6 million in just 2009. That year, the sealing industry brought in less than $1.5 million (“About the Canadian Seal Hunt”). With bans on seal pelts being created all over the world, there has been a decrease in demand and an over-abundance of seal pelts. In 2006, the cost of a single seal pelt was, on average, $97. After the majority of the seal-banning countries passed their laws in 2009, followed by Russia in 2011, the price for a seal pelt dropped to $18 in less than five years (“Canada’s Commercial Seal Slaughter Explained”). Many alternatives to the seal hunt have been suggested, but all are ignored by the Canadian government. Among these suggestions is a federal buyout, which is supported by both animal activists and the sealers. This would involve the government “buying back” licenses and making up for any lost revenue in the wake of the hunt closure (“About the Canadian Seal Hunt”). A potential industry to replace the hunt is eco-tourism. Paul McCartney is one of many who have supported this idea, describing the thousands of seals as “a magnificent wildlife spectacle” (McCartney Call for Seal Cull Ban”). In one of Canada’s largest sealing areas, The Magdalene Islands, seal watching brings in more money to the local communities than the seal hunting does. Should the government choose to switch to these alternatives, Canada has the potential to reach a more successful economy (“About the Canadian Seal Hunt”).

                        Canada’s actions have not gone unnoticed by animal activists and caring consumers. Many have gone to extreme measures to inform the public of the killings and to send a very clear message to the Canadian government: the annual slaughter must not continue. Those who object to the slaughter will do anything from writing letters to holding angry protests. Many activists have been arrested for their radical protests. One of the most remembered incidents was in 2009, when three PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) protesters were arrested for dressing up as seals and laying across a road in Washington D.C.; on the day that Minister Stephen Harper of Canada was scheduled to meet with President Obama at the Canadian Embassy. The “seals” were splattered with red paint to illustrate what happens to the thousands of seals in Canada each year. They were carried away by the police for slowing down traffic (“Three Arrested in D.C. Seal Slaughter Protest”). Other organizations, such as The Humane Society of the United States, have created brochures and videos targeting the seal slaughter. Pop singer Ke$ha has appeared in these videos, saying that, “Together, we can convince the Canadian government that it’s not in their best interest to continue to kill baby seals.” (Ke$ha Speaking out for Seals). Other celebrities have joined this cause, including singer and guitarist Paul McCartney, and British Columbia native Pamela Anderson (“McCartney Calls for Seal Cull Ban”). With no shortage of seal sympathizers to reveal the truth about the slaughter, more than 30 countries have banned their trade in seal products. Among these countries is Russia, who just recently banned seal skins in 2011 (“Canada’s Commercial Seal Slaughter Explained”). Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized this “bloodthirsty industry” and said that this practice “should have stopped years ago”. The Russian Minister of Natural Resources, Yuri Trutnev, declared that “The bloody seal slaughter, the killing of the defenseless, which can’t even be called a ‘hunt’, is now prohibited in Russia as it is in most developed countries. It is a serious step towards the conservation of biodiversity in Russia.” This ban was a heavy blow to the sealing industry as the Canadian Government estimated that Russia received 90% of Canada’s export of seal skins (Rollin, “News and Press on the Seal Hunt”).

These gruesome annual killings are systematically destroying Canada’s economy and its environment. The people are asking for a change, and Canadians have a solution lying in front of them. The government continues to ignore the facts and pleading from animal activists and concerned countries around the world. The fragile northern environment and the way of every day life in Canada may very well become severely disrupted if the annual seal slaughter continues.

Works Cited

"About Seals - Harpseals.org." Harpseals.org - A Non-Profit Charity Working to End the Canadian Seal Hunt. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <

"About the Canadian Seal Hunt." Humane Society of the United States. N.p., n.d.         Web. 2 May 2012. <www.humanesociety.org/issues/seal_hunt/facts/about_seal_hunt.html>.

"BBC NEWS | Entertainment | McCartney calls for seal cull ban." BBC News - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <

"Canada's Commercial Seal Slaughter Explained." humanesociety.org. N.p., n.d. Web.

14 May 2012. <www.humanesociety.org/issues/seal_hunt/infographic.html>.

"Cod Moratorium: Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage."

Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage/Patrimoine de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador--Entry Page: Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2012. <

"HSUS Video - Channels - Latest Videos - Ke$ha Speaking Out For Seals." HSUS Video. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2012. <

"Protect Seals." Humane Society of the United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <humanesociety.org/issues/seal_hunt/>.

Raeside, Adrian. "Seal Hunt Facts - Sea Shepherd." Sea Shepherd. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <

Rollin, Allen. "News and Press on Seals and the Seal Hunt - Harpseals.org." Harpseals.org - A Non-Profit Charity Working to End the Canadian Seal Hunt. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <

"Seal Slaughter." www.peta.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <www.peta.org/issues/wildlife/seal-slaughter.aspx>.

"Three Arrested in D.C. Seal Slaughter Protest | PETA.org." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The animal rights organization | PETA.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2012. <

Watson, Paul . "Earth Frist! Journal." eLibrary: Login. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <