HARP SEALS

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HARP SEALS CANADA'S HARP SEAL 'HUNT'
The largest massacre of marine mammals in the
world
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HARP SEALS are PINNIPEDS
"Fin-footed" mammals
There are 3 families of Pinnipeds
True Seals (Phocidae)
including harp seals, hooded seals, and harbor
seals
Eared Seals (Otariidae)
including sea lions cape fur seals
Walruses (Odobenidae)
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HARP SEAL LIFE CYCLE
Whitecoat (to 2 wks)
Ragged jacket (2-3 wks)
Yellow jacket (newborn)
Bedlamer (13 mo. adult)
Adult (with pup)
Beater (3 wks -13 mo.)
Males reach sexual maturity at 7-8 years, females
at 4-6 . Females give birth to one pup each year
starting at about 5 years of age.
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Canada's Seal 'Hunt'
About 95 of the harp seals that are killed in
Canada's seal hunt are between 3 weeks and 3
months of age.
How many seals are killed?
Canadas seal hunt takes the lives of 3 species
of seals. Most are harp seals, but up to 400
hooded seals are also killed and typically, a few
hundred to over a thousand grey seals are killed
each year. The number of harp seals killed over
the years are shown below
1950's to 1971 Average 288,000 1996 1997 1998 242,906 264,210 282,624 2005 2006 2007 329,829 354,344 224,745
1972 to 1982 Average 160,000 1999 2000 2001 244,552 92,055 226,493 2008 2009 217,857 74,581
1983 to 1995 Average 52,000 2002 2003 2004 312,367 289,512 365,971 These numbers do not include struck lost seals These numbers do not include struck lost seals
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Where are Harp Seals Killed?
The harp seal 'Hunt' takes place in two phases
Phase 1 "The Gulf" (The Gulf of St. Lawrence)
Phase 2 "The Front" (Off Newfoundland and
Labrador)
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Why are Harp Seals Killed?

• For their fur - Illegal in the U.S. and now the
  EU, their fur is sold in Asia and some countries
  in Europe.
• Small amounts of blubber are sold as 'health food
  supplements' for their omega-3 fatty acids (also
  illegal in the U.S. and now the EU).
• Their flesh is left to rot (since there is no
  market for it).
• At one time, the Canadian government claimed the
  seals were responsible for the collapse of the
  North Atlantic cod population.
• Proved false, the government then claimed the
  seals were responsible for the failure of the cod
  to rebound after the fishing moratorium.
• Again proved false, the Canadian government now
  calls this a 'market-based hunt' and spends
  Canadian tax dollars to promote the market for
  seal pelts.
• Nevertheless, many Canadian fishermen still
  believe the old claims.
• Politics - the Fisheries Minister traditionally
  hails from the main sealing province,
  Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Tradition - sealers take 'pride' in their sealing
  heritage.

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How are Harp Seals Killed?
The Gulf Sealers, mostly from the Magdalen
Islands of Quebec, set out in boats to the ice
floes where the seal pups are born. At this time,
most seal pups do not know how to swim. The
Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker ships create a
path through the ice for the sealing ships when
the ice packs are dense.
Sealers run onto the ice, clubbing every seal pup
in sight with a hakapik, a long stick with a hook
on the end, for hooking the seal pup in the mouth
and dragging it to the skinning area. A
veterinary study found that over 40 were skinned
while alive and conscious.
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How are Harp Seals Killed?

• The Front Sealers, mostly from Newfoundland and
  Labrador, set
• out in boats to find the seal herds. At this
  point, the seals know
• how to swim.

Sealers shoot at the seal pups, aiming for their
heads. The pelt is devalued with gunshots in it,
so the sealers avoid repeat shots. Sealers use
hakapik hooks to retrieve killed or wounded
seals.
Still, many escape, bleeding to death or drowning
later. Estimates are about 15 are 'struck and
lost'.
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Are There Conservation Issues?
The Canadian government uses estimates of the
size of the harp seal population to set quotas
but surveys the population only about every 10
years. The current estimate is about 5 million
seals. Kill rates in recent years have caused the
population to decline.
Until 1971, the Canadian government allowed
unrestricted killing. With the population on the
verge of collapse, the government instituted a
quota system.
In 1983, kill rates decreased due to a ban on
imports of whitecoat pelts into the EU. Then, as
the Canadian government realized that there was a
loophole in the ban - sealers could wait a week
or two and kill ragged jacket or beater seal pups
- the killing increased.
Harp seals give birth to pups on ice floes. Seal
pups do not know how to swim for the first two
weeks of their lives. Without thick, sturdy ice,
seal pups drown. This year and in recent years,
tens or hundreds of thousands of seal pups have
perished this way. With global climate change
making spring ice less certain, the seals' future
is in jeopardy.
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What Can You Do to End the Hunt?
Boycott Canadian Seafood

• Seal products are illegal in the U.S. Although
  it is important to reduce demand for seal pelts,
  American consumers cannot affect pelt markets.
• Sealers are fishermen. They make only about 5 of
  their income from sealing.
• The fishing industry of Canada stands behind the
  seal hunt. One major fishing company, the Barry
  Group, owns one of the two main seal skin
  processing plants in Canada.
• Canadian fishermen sell about 70 of their
  seafood to the U.S. market. That comes to about
  CAN3 billion.
• Revenues from seal pelts bring in about CAN1
  million to CAN20 million per year, split among
  1,000 to 6,000 sealers. Sealing boat captains
  typically take 50 of the pelt revenues and leave
  50 for the crew to split up.
• The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans
  has said that the seal 'hunt' will end when the
  Canadian fishing industry wants it to end.

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How Can You Join the Boycott?
Seafood in supermarkets has 'country of origin'
labels. Look for 'Product of Canada' on the tag
at the fresh fish counter or on cans and jars.
Avoid this seafood.
Some seafood is exempt from this labeling law.
This includes pre-cooked seafood, such as snow
crabs and shrimp, and seafood in prepared meals.
At the seafood counter, you can ask where the
seafood is from. It may be on the shipping box.
You can also call or email companies that sell
seafood meals. Let them know you want them to
join the boycott.
In restaurants, seafood does not have to be
labeled. Ask your server where the seafood is
from, and let him/her know that you are
participating in the Canadian seafood boycott.
Red Lobster is one of the largest, if not the
largest buyer of Canadian seafood, sourcing
through Quebec, where the Magdalen Island sealers
come from. Avoid eating there until this company
joins the boycott.
Some of the common fish and shellfish from Canada
include snow crabs, lobsters, cold-water shrimp,
Prince Edward Island mussels, scallops, cod,
sole, flounder, herring, salmon, tuna, sardines,
and perch.
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Where Can You Learn More?
HARPSEALS.ORG
IFAW.ORG
PROTECTSEALS.ORG
SEASHEPHERD.ORG