Report calls for campaign to counter misinformation around sealing industry
Senate committee calls situation urgent, says government needs to act within 6 months
From left, senators Brian Francis, Ben Busson, Réjean Aucoin and Fabian Manning hold copies of the report titled Sealing the Future: A Call to Action at a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday. (Photo by Kierstin Williams)
The federal government should develop a national campaign to counter misinformation about Canada’s seal harvest and the sealing industry, a Senate committee is recommending after studying the country’s seal populations and their effect on fisheries.
An 80-page report, titled Sealing the Future: A Call to Action, was released Thursday near Parliament Hill in Ottawa by the Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. It’s based on a study the committee launched in October 2022.
The report found:
- data on research on seal populations is lacking, and a lot what is available is outdated;
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada is not managing seal populations or the commercial harvest because total allowable catch limits aren’t being met. That’s because it’s not commercially viable for fishers;
- a “precipitous decline of Canada’s once-vibrant sealing industry and the breadth of misinformation and disinformation that surrounds Canada’s seal harvest.”
Wearing a seal fur ribbon, Sen. Brian Francis spoke about the significance of the seal harvest for Indigenous Peoples. Francis, who represents PEI in Parliament’s upper house, noted the study touched him personally, as his father was a seal harvester.
“The relationship between our communities with sealing is deep, meaningful, respectful, and is something that should be preserved,” Francis, who is Mi’kmaw/Lnu, told reporters at an Ottawa news conference Thursday.
“The important connection may not be well understood across the country or globally, and certainly not by anti-sealing groups who mischaracterize it as a barbaric activity.”
The report offers nine recommendations, notably that a strategy be implemented within six months to manage Canada’s seal population.
It also recommends the commercial seal harvest be increased, and it calls for expanded support to research seals and their populations’ effect on the marine and fishery industries.
The report found that one adult seal can eat 1,000 kilograms or more of fish and seafood each year and that “seals eat 22 times as much fish as is commercially harvested.”
Despite that, it said Fisheries and Oceans Canada “is unable or unwilling to make any conclusions about the effects of seals on fisheries.”
The committee also recommended the Income Tax Act be amended so Canadian charities that promote misinformation and disinformation about the seal harvest have their tax-exempt status revoked.
As well, it calls for a campaign to promote seal products and the removal of trade barriers that affect them.
More than 30 countries, including those in the European Union, have issued import bans on commercial seal products “primarily due to historical concerns that are no longer valid” due to improved rules and practices, according to the report.
“The sale of these products is an important source of income for remote and coastal communities, where commercial opportunities are limited,” said Francis.
He said a negative stigma still surrounds the seal harvests and that international bans on seal-product trade have devastating impacts on those communities.
The Seals and Sealing Network, which includes Canada’s sealing industry harvesters, processors, manufacturers, retailers as well as Indigenous Peoples’ groups, applauded the committee’s report.
It called it the “latest in a long list of calls to action on supporting the seal hunt.”
“The federal government, working with industry stakeholders like ourselves and Indigenous rights holders, must take immediate action on these recommendations to preserve the health of Canada’s oceans and our remote and rural coastal communities,” Doug Chiasson, the network’s executive director, said in a release.
Oh, give it a rest.
Seals aren’t declining in numbers; very few Inuit consume them as store-bought/ restaurant food is eaten more daily. One of the reasons you see numbers increasing with diabetes and heart disease in Inuits.
I am not sure if Newfies still only eat the flippers?
Not sure if this Senate committee has heard about this little thing called global warming and climate change.
Pesticide and “forever” chemicals in the waters and so on.
An article about “forever” chemicals stated that the Arctic has the highest levels and more on its way.
Good point, Nelson… this is worthwhile information.
Just recently a friend was laughing about this exact topic and Northmart’s “All Country Foods Are Healthy Foods” signs – except for the heavy metals and PCBs of course.
Maybe it’s the Polar bears eating them, the polar bears are just way too many in the north now.
The committee also recommended the Income Tax Act be amended so Canadian charities that promote misinformation and disinformation about the seal harvest have their tax-exempt status revoked.
————-
Some stellar minds at play here. Only one opinion allowed in this country.
More than 30 countries, including those in the European Union, have issued import bans on commercial seal products “primarily due to historical concerns that are no longer valid” due to improved rules and practices, according to the report.
———
Why does anyone care?
Inuit products aren’t included in the ban and if Europeans wanted Inuit products, they will buy them from Greenland, a fellow member of the European Union.
Misinformation
Greenland is NOT a member of the EU
A simple Google search would have confirmed that.
Not in the EU no, but they have a special relationship with their European peers. Regardless, the point remains. Globally, very few are interested in seal products, Inuit or commercial and that is perfectly fine. It is entirely the decision of countries whether they wish to purchase seal products or not.
It is equally true that there are many options for buying seal products and that Canada is not the only provider. Realistically, the commercial seal market is not coming back.
Of course the federal government and all levels of government should support the sealing industry for all traditional harvesters. It has the potential to once again be an important component of local economies if supported properly. It is a heritage Canadian industry.
No, they absolutely should not. Money should go into growth industries with potential, not fringe industries with no viable market. Sealing has about as much future as blacksmithing.