There are many myths associated with Canada's annual seal slaughter which are spoken by some of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Below is a list of a few of the most popular myths and the truth behind the statements.
1. We don’t kill white coats: unclear
The commercial hunting of infant harp seals (whitecoats), and infant hooded seals (bluebacks), was banned in Canada in 1987, under pressure from animal rights groups. Now, seals may only be killed legally once they have started moulting (from 12 to 15 days of age for harp seals), as this coincides with the time when they are abandoned by their mothers. These pups, who have not yet completely moulted are known as "ragged-jackets". Once the pups have completely moulted, they are called "beaters". However, there is confusion as to when a baby seal leaves the whitecoat stage, and there is little enforcement....just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's not happening.
Seals may be killed once they begin to moult their fluffy white coats at just 12 days old. Fully 95 percent of the seals killed in the hunt are under three months of age.
2. Animal protection organizations use the seal hunt as a way to make money: False
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If it were true, then animal rights groups would want the abuse to continue so they could continue making money. Animal rights campaigns against the seal hunt are anything but supportive of the abuse, and the funds are funneled into trying to end the hunt.
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Sadly, it takes money to create campaigns to end the cruelty. If the abusers take issue with animal rights groups generating funds for these campaigns, they would have nothing to complain about if they would just stopped the killing.
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The large sums of money generated to end the seal hunt demonstrate how loud the global voice is to end the largest marine mammal slaughter on earth.
- There is far more money in cruelty that can ever be imagined. If the animal protection movement had even one percent of the power, wealth, and subsidies of the industries that torture animals for profit, there would be no necessity for fundraising campaigns to end the cruelty.
3. The seals are overpopulating and eating all the fish: False
Sealing nations such as the Norway, Russia, and Canada have repeatedly claimed that to maintain commercial fishing populations they must cull seal herds.
This deception displays scant understanding of marine ecology. For several millennia to the 18th century, some 30 million Harp seals lived in the North Atlantic teeming with cod, capelin, herring, and so forth. If 30 million seals did not deplete the fish stocks back then, it is inconceivable that 5.8 million seals would deplete the fish stocks in this era.
Unsustainable harvesting by humans has caused the decline of fish and seal populations. At the peak of the seal hunt, in the 1830s, hunters killed 700,000 Harp seals per year, devastating the herds. Poor fisheries management led to the depletion of the cod throughout the North Atlantic. In truth, seals, like all marine mammals, are a vital part of the ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic. Harp seals, which are the primary target of the hunt, are opportunistic feeders, meaning they eat many different species. So while approximately 3% of a harp seal's diet may be commercially fished cod, harp seals also eat many significant predators of cod, such as squid. That is why some scientists are concerned that culling harp seals could further inhibit recovery of commercially valuable fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic.
However, and this is the key point to understand, when fish eat fish, or when seals eat fish, the nutrients remain in the ocean. They are recycled. When humans remove fish from the ocean, the nutrients are removed. Fisheries scientists generally ignore this fact. Seals and fish clearly coexisted for millennia. Embarrassed fisheries officers have simply used seals as a scapegoat for poor management.
Words from the people:
“The waters are ramp-id with seals and as any over populated species they need to be taken care off, for food as well as for the money received for every part of a seal that is sold, yes EVERY part including the Penis.”
Brenda
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