Low pelt prices, high fuel costs frustrate sealers
(apr. 7, 2008)
cbc news

Sagging prices may keep some Newfoundland and Labrador sealers from heading to the ice when the largest part of Canada's seal hunt opens later this month.

The hunt on the Front — the traditional name given to the area off Newfoundland's northeast coast — is scheduled to open this weekend.

Sealers say the market for their pelts, used to make sealskin coats and other products, is much weaker this year.

But some sealers say they may be better off staying home, as buyers are offering $35 per pelt, about half of last year's price, while fuel prices are soaring.

"I don't guess I or very many others will be all that pleased with the price this year," said Herring Neck fisherman Jim King.

He said sealers have been benefiting over the past few years because buyers had not been using a grading system. Now, he said, sealers are paying the price for what slipped through.

"It looks like they're going to drop the price this year to subsidize the poor quality of pelts that were landed in the last couple years, at too high a price," he said.

"So it looks like this is payback," said King, who is reluctantly taking part in this year's hunt.

Rick Kean, who fishes from Valleyfield, may stay away, and won't make a decision until just before the hunt opens.

He said the conditions this year do not make economic sense.

"[If you want] to make a dollar, you're not just going out there for the fun of it," Kean said.

"You got to try to make something for your boat."

The seal hunt attracts controversy annually, especially from animal rights and welfare groups, and European Union legislators are considering a ban on importing seal products.