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The Canadian commercial seal hunt is one of the largest marine mammal hunts in the world. This hunt is controversial and leads to heat debate for the perspectives of sustainable stock management and “humane killing”. Canadian authorities, basically the department of fisheries and oceans, are the key decision makers in this case and they claim that they carefully incorporate different interests of stakeholders, such as aboriginal sealers, Asian markets and European authorities. It is declared that the governments undertake a science-based decision making which is of transparency, accountability and participation. Despite the statement made by government, opponent believes that there is a problematic decision-making process and ineffective legislation. This paper will review several sources of international agreements, domestic legislations and cultural traditions. A detailed analysis of governance practice will be depicted in the following paragraphs. Finally a relatively fair conclusion of current resource governance performance will be displayed.

Since harp seals are a migratory species subjected to international trade, international law and agreements are of paramount importance in governance framework. Generally speaking, international regulations are tended to conserve the sustainable stock of seal. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), one of whose party is Canada, states that party should ensure “the maintenance of the living resources in the exclusive economic zone is not endangered by over-exploitation”. However, the quota set by the Canadian government seems like a violation of Article 61. (UNCLOS, supra note 186, art. 61(2).) Furthermore, the Canadian government is unwilling to cooperate with other parties such as Greenland or Norway to conserve seals. (Alder. J, 2001) Unfortunately, there is little recourse or dispute settlement provision available in UNCLOS, so this convention does not appear to accomplish its original purpose Similarly, the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), which is a Multilateral Environmental Agreement for biodiversity protection, imposes one binding commitment of national reports. (CBD protocol, 2005) However, it mainly contains soft and unambiguous law so it also has a problematic implementation. There is another promising international body, called North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), aims at conservation management of marine mammals in the North Atlantic. Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are the parties of the agreement, but Canada does not show its will to sign this agreement. (NAMMCO, 1992) As a result, the domestic implementation in Canada cannot be supervised by this commission.

Canada is under international criticism regarding the issue of humane hunting. The European Union acts as the biggest opponents of this cruel action and they ban all the seal products from Canada, which is “a landmark vindication of the right to protect animal welfare under international trade law”. (R.HOWSE, J.LANGILLE, and K.SYKES, 2013) The Canadian government describes this action as “lack of a scientific, legal or other credible basis” (DFO, 2011) and it has launched a WTO challenge against this ban. But the panel of WTO rejected these arguments since Canada could not show its innocence and verifiably make the seal hunt humane. Furthermore, CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is likely to protect harp seals from unsustainable trade. Each party is required to nominate a management authority and a scientific authority. Authorities ought to maintain export quota which is not detrimental to the survival of species and steady ecosystems. (CITES, supra note 29, 2006) Basically, international agreements believe the Canadian commercial seal hunt is inhumane and unsustainable. But Canada contributes little effort to cooperate with other parties and its action cannot be convinced by other parties in the world.

In terms of domestic regulation, such as federal and local policies, commercial seal hunt appears to be profitable, sustainable and humane. As declared in five general principles of application in government document, governance has “a high degree of transparency, clear accountability and meaningful public involvement”. (A framework for the application of precaution in science-based decision making about risk, 2003) For transparency, government states clearly in their fisheries plan about the scientific stock assessment and precautionary approach. It seems like plausible, but opponents argue that the Canadian Marine Mammal Regulations can be easily violated without any penalties. In terms of the Human society in United States (2013), in 2002, sealers had already killed substantially more than the quota allowed by the regulated closing date, and yet the Minister of Fisheries and Ocean chose to extend the sealing season and the quota was exceeded by more than 37000. Furthermore, according to Dr. Mary Richardson, a Canadian veterinary expert in humane slaughter methods, from the speed and the environment of killing, seal hunt is inherently inhumane and should be prohibited. Due to the criticism, Canada imposes legal obstacles to observe the seal hunt. Only people with a legal license and observe seal hunt in a closer way. However, the license can only be issued if “the Minister determines that the issuance of the license will not cause disruption to a seal fishery”. It is obvious that this creates a challenge for people who want to film seal hunt or protect seals. In this way, Canada can keep the opponent away from getting evidence and minimize the exposure of hunting. Since information is inaccessible to the general public and the data provided is not accurate, the transparency of seal hunt is reduced, making people remain sceptic towards seal hunt.

For the accountability, as stated above, there is a low or even no compliance with regulations by hunters and the department of fisheries and oceans fails to enforce and supervise the hunting. Another issue which needs to address is that there is no local regulation found in Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is the main place for hunting. As there is a gap between federal regulation and local practices, the governance framework is subjected to low cooperation and coordination. This can also be concluded from the gap between international agreements and domestic legislations. As a consequence, Canada cannot defend their actions and respond to questions, losing the accountability and credibility gradually.

Canada does have some non-statutory institutions focusing on seal protections, such as Greenpeace and other environmental protection organization. However, since they do not have political will, they can only initiate proposal or campaign instead of issuing regulations. So this can reflect that government give a low participation chance for the general public. Canada does conduct annual information sessions for the seal hunt, but only with fishing industry representatives and individual sealers. This is against the principle of participation and the low public involvement cannot perform as a platform to resolve conflict as stated in precautionary approach (A framework for the application of precaution in science-based decision making about risk, 2003).

For cultural traditions, the Canadian government tries to hide commercial seal slaughters behind the native hunting. “Preservation of traditional indigenous cultures” or “subsistence hunt is a valuable link to Canadian cultural heritage’ seems to be a good excuse. However, the public can easily distinguish the difference between commercial seal hunt and subsistence needs. This is because only less than 2 percent of aboriginal people are involved in trapping animals for fur. (Andrew, 2006) In a word, this justification is invalid and it can not support the argument of government.

To conclude, there are failures in governance framework. Canada government should shift the focus from economic profit to biodiversity preservation in decision-making process as purposed by international organizations. The lack of local legislation and coordination of each level of government should also be improved. It is also shown that the legislation is ineffective, so government should increase transparency and accessible participation to general public as well as enhance supervision and management of the seal hunt.

 

 

 

References

Alder, J., Lugten, G., Kay, R., & Ferriss, B. (2001). Compliance with international fisheries instruments.

Cynthia F. Hodges (2009). The Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt: In Search Of International Legal Protection For Harp Seals. Michigan State University College of Law.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans (2011). 2011-2015 Integrated Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic Seals.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans (2003). A framework for the application of precaution in science-based decision making about risk. ISBN 0-662-67486-3

1. HOWSE, J. LANGILLE and K. SYKES (2013).Canada’s seal hunt can’t find cover in WTO trade laws.

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. (2005). Handbook of the convention on biological diversity: Including its cartagena protocol on biosafety (3rd ed.). Montreal: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Humane Society of the United States (2013). About the Canadian Seal Hunt.

The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (1992). Agreement on Cooperation in Research, Conservation and Management of Marine Mammals in the North Atlantic. Available at http://www.sdnpbd.org/sdi/treaty/oceans_their_living_resources/ww94.htm.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Agreement PART V. EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE Article 61. Conservation of the living resources. Available at http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf

 

TOPIC 23 Commercial seal hunt

Focus: Ecosystem

I am responible for searching the key issue of ecosystem. That is to say, the interplay of seal hunt and ecosystem will be researched and investigated.

 

Grey literature source (book, NGO documents, government documents)

1

David. Lavigne (2003).  Marine Mammals: Fisheries, Tourism and Management Issues: CSIRO

Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, “Marine Mammals and Fisheries: The Role of Science in the Culling Debate,” pp. 31-47

Seals are top predators, which is of paramount importance in the complex marine system. They eat fish, the target of fisherman, which makes fishermen want to kill their top competitor. However, the dramatic decline of fish stock is mostly due to the over-exploit in fishery. Increasing resource needs and technology improvement help fishermen stay longer in sea and catch more fishes with approach such as bottom trawling. Marine system loses a lot keystone species through this process, making it more difficult to maintain an ecological balance. It is not seal but human the reason of shrinking cod stock. However, because of the misunderstanding, 66% of the seal population was killed from 1990 to 2002. Dr.Lavigne carefully depicts the circumstance in sea, using logical arguments and concrete example to prove himself. It shows us a clear linkage between the fishery and seals, presenting with a high readability.

 

 

2

Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (2003) . Seal Wars- Twenty Five Years on the Front Lines with the Harp Seals  Firefly Books

Seals not only eat cod but predators of cod, positioning multi trophic levels in complex food web. It also help maintain appropriate amount of plankton, which is a decomposer consuming fecal material. Without seals, plankton, krill, fish can not form a full food cycle, leading to energy and material loss in ecosystem. Especially, plankton will lack the source of organic material, creating a relatively sterile environment and destructing the ecosystem balance. Watson clearly stated the position and functions of seals, using ecological terminology, fair and objective tone to explain the importance of this vulnerable species and the interaction between environment and animals. It is also corroborated by other sources, gaining external consistency and support.

 

3

Johnston, Paul (2005 ). The Canada Seal Hunt:No management and no plan  Greenpeace International ISBN: 90-73361-86-9, 978-90-73361-86-7 retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/PageFiles/25714/GP_Seals_def_lowres.pdf

This NGO document makes a strict critique to the seal hunt, listing a lots of data to support its view. It starts with the overview of seal conservation, following with the seal hunt and the interaction of ecosystem and seals. It criticizes that DFO(Department of Fisheries and Oceans) use a variety of unverified assumptions, which subject to large uncertainties to do the research. It use a lot of reference, concrete and consistent statistics to state that seal hunt has nothing to do with the cod stock recovery and it can not be justified, which is really convincing and of high credibility.

 

4

Melissa Cronin (2014).  7 reasons why Canada seal hunt need to end now  retrieved from https://www.thedodo.com/7-reasons-why-canadas-brutal-s-548558738.html

The hunting of harp seal pups with whitecoats is illegal. However, the baby seal lose their white fur after two weeks old, which permits hunters to take action. This seriously hinder the reproduction of seals and will lead to an unstainable population.

Harp seals are not only crucial predators but also prey to orca whales. As a consequence, declining seal population prevent marine ecosystem from providing normal services, causing loss on other species as well as the entire ecosystem.

Besides the hunt, climate change is an amplifier of decreasing population. It is too fast for baby seals to adapt in water environment since the ice melts earlier and earlier. The combination of climate change and hunting might lead to catastrophe for the marine system.

Melissa clarified the reason why seal hunt need to end as soon as possible by speaking of externality, internal importance and the consequence. However, the tone of this article is a little bit subjective without a strong evidence backup, decreasing the credibility of this article.

 

5

(2007) Canadian seal hunt myths and realities  Fisheries and ocean Canada,

ISBN 6624270764,9786624270760

In this government document, government consider seal hunt is sustainable and will not endanger the seal population. They promise the seal hunt is closely monitored and strictly regulated. And most importantly, they do not mean to recover the cod stock through seal hunt. The myths and realities in this article is totally opposite from the one in NGO’s article. It makes reader confused since data source and the method of data collection are not clearly stated. And it is really hard to decide which one is closer to the truth. Government’s article does give counterargument but it does not provide a convincing and objective rebuttal.

 

 

Peer reviewed sources (academic journals)

 

1

Johnston, D. W., Meisenheimer, P., & Lavigne, D. M. (2000). An evaluation of management objectives for canada’s commercial harp seal hunt, 1996-1998. Conservation Biology, 14(3), 729-737. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.98260.x

There is a heated debate between government and NGO on the topic of seal hunt. Through biological population model and assessment in U.S, it was found out that the landed catches exceeded the allowable catch and the sustainable replacement yield. Human-caused mortality is much more than the potential biological removal levels, which makes seal hunt activity extremely risky from the perspective of steady population and ecosystem. This journal portrays a detailed process of model formulation and assessment procedure, declaring a powerful and convincing argument.

 

2

Hoover, C., Pitcher, T., & Christensen, V. (2013). Effects of hunting, fishing and climate change on the hudson bay marine ecosystem: II. ecosystem model future projections.Ecological Modelling, 264, 143-156. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.01.010

This journal reports a simulation test of varied levels of future impacts of climate change and marine animal harvest in varied levels. It is clearly showed that, with temperature rise and overexploit, marine mammals stocks is likely to be extirpated and a huge shift of food web will occur. The dominance in food web will change from benthic to pelagic, which benefits from the decline stocks of mammals and increasing sunlight. So the result indicates that it is better to pay less effort on marine mammals hunting. The report uses logical argument with models from different scenario, showing a clear picture of future impact of overfishing and climate change. This give a straightforward directivity in managing fishery and hunting.

 

3

Hammill, M. O., & Stenson, G. B. (2010). Comment on “towards a precautionary approach to managing canada’s commercial harp seal hunt” by leaper et al. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67(2), 321-322. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsp296

This journal argues that the fisheries management is in precise control, maintaining harp seal population near the highest level even during intensive hunting. It admits that the management does not include a simulation test and does not specify the catch limit algorithm to obtain an acceptable catch level. But it claims that we should not stand on the perspective of scientist but in industry. Industry can choose the specific quota to harvest they want while ensuring a healthy population of seal. It uses the government statistics to prove that the fishery management works well today. I remain skeptical for the statement since it use a useless loop to prove itself, referring government statistics to prove government management in good condition. It also lacks logical argument to show the credibility of the management system. The reason of the shift from management in high risk to well-managed system is not shown, which makes reader confused and less convinced.

 

4

Frie, A., Stenson, G., & Haug, T. (2012). Long-term trends in reproductive and demographic parameters of female northwest atlantic hooded seals (Cystophora cristata): Population responses to ecosystem change? Canadian Journal of Zoology, 90(3), 376-392. doi:10.1139/z11-140

This journal digs deeply into the interaction between seal population and ecosystem change. Due to the commercial seal hunt, the decline population of seal and climate change lead to ecosystem shift. In reverse, several ecosystem changes affect the seal reproduction. The extrinsic factors change in ecosystem has a causal relationship with female productive parameters and demographic parameters. It is shown clearly that the population pyramid of seal shifts from stationary structure from contracting structure since the juvenile seal is killed much frequently than the old. The correlation between single species and the entire marine ecosystem is clearly stated. The feedback loop is clearly shown in the journal with logically argument, so even the people with little prior knowledge can easily understand. As a result, it is a credible and useful source for my research.

 

Raw Data (graph and statistics)

 

1

Hammill, M. O., Heyer, C. E. d., Bowen, W. D., Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans.Science, Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans.Maritimes Region, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat, & Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans.Québec Region. (2014). Grey seal population trends in canadian waters, 1960-2014. ( No. 2014/037.;2014-5701.;2014/037;). Ottawa, ON: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Science.

There is a population estimation model for Sable Island, Coastal Nova Scotia (CNS) and Gulf of St. Lawrence (Gulf) seal herds. It predicts the overall population and also the amount of sustainable future removals for each herd. It also has the figure to show the uncertainty and risk of the current model when confronting mass mortality or huge environmental change. It also clearly states that higher harvest is related to high risk of population collapse.

 

 

Removals of grey seals

Decision table for the probability of respecting N70, N50 and N30 under harvest levels with different proportions of young of the year (YOY) in the harvest for the Gulf of St. Lawrence grey seals

 

2

Hammill, M. O., Canadian Government EBook Collection, Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans.Newfoundland and Labrador Region, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat, & Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans.Québec Region. (2014). Abundance estimates of northwest atlantic harp seals and management advice for 2014. Ottawa: Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat.

The dataset showes the decline population of seal and the concrete number of commercial seal hunting. It also provides the repoductive samples of female seals, depicting that the age-specific pregnancy rate. But the amount of samples is not quite large, which contributes to the uncertainty of the estimate population and the hunting impact of seal.

 

Removal of seal in commercial hunting

Porportion of pregnancy

3

Environment Canada Ice Products Guide and Canadian ice service retrieved from http://www.ec.gc.ca/glaces-ice/default.asp?lang=En&n=D32C361E-1

The raw data and graphs from Environment Canada of ice cover rate clearly shows that ice coverage is much lower than the mean average before. It also turns out that current ice condition is as an average of 80% of the 1979-2000 mean. With the external environment change, the population of seal will change subsequently.

I focus on the case 23 : The Canadian Seal Hunt. It is a unique problem can not find some before substitutes. According to the articles I researched (Sara Malm, 2015), it is easy to find out that hunters are not humane when hunting a seal. There is a huge conflict between the commercial hunters and the animals’ protectors. Beside these two, there are other stakeholders who take involved in this issue, such as crowds and Canadian governments, whose attitude is really vague. Stakeholders have various values of interests and one side’s views can be strongly opposed by the other member. In this circumstance, numbers of alternatives will be really large and there is not a perfect solution making all the stakeholders satisfied. Furthermore, there has not been a stopping rule which can solve this issue in so far. The environment keeps changing so even we have a solutions, it may be not capable of catching the pace of change of environment, for example, the movements of ice, ocean currents and barometric pressure. To conclude, seal hunt is unique, ill-structured, unstable and persistent. It has multiple stakeholders with multiple views. It possess the characteristics of a wicked problem. In one word, poor knowledge and different values of stakeholders cause commercial Seal Hunt a wicked problem.

Mind map for commercial seal hunt

In terms of the process of making mind map, facts, stakeholders, impacts and improvements are the four main branches which firstly came in my mind. I collect several important facts of seal hunt, which may be useful in future analysis. For example, 3-month old baby seals are the main focus of the hunters and it is really unsustainable.  However, 5000 to 6000 Canadians make their life on this, which makes this issue complicated and hard to solve. (Myths and facts, 2008)

Quite a few of stakeholders take involved in hunting and their values as well as interests vary a lot. From the perspective of the environmentalists, they argue that seal hunt in inhumane and unsustainable(Sara Malm, 2015), taking a lot of pictures to prove their statements. (Nick Visser, 2015) However, on the other side, Canada government show a totally opposite attitude towards seal hunt. According to their websites, seal hunt is “highly sustainable, economically significant, humanely harvested and strictly regulated”(Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2015)  There is a huge divergence in their statements and the real situation is hard to be figured out.

Hunting’s huge impacts make it a serious problem that we need to pay high attention to. For the biological sector, biodiversity and ecosystem there will face a catastrophe if we keep doing nothing. There are tons of articles recording a hunting disaster, claiming seal is a significant role in maintain balance of marine system. (Death on ice, 1972)  However, it is hard to decide what to do and make most of the crowds agree. Furthermore, since this is a commercial hunting, economic sector becomes a indispensable portion. Hence, policy maker ought to take consideration of the short-term profit as well as the long run economy. Even politician add subsidy to seal hunt since its huge political advantage. (Animal Alliance of Canada) Though European Union suggest a ban of seal hunt, politicians inside Canada are not willing to execute it.

Last but not least, we need to hand in some improvements in order to lighten the current pressure of this issue. Other than the three sectors mentioned above, technology is a nice breakthrough point. If possible, we can utilize technology and chemicals to help seals. If the DNA can be changed, the baby seals may shed their “white coat” later, gaining more time for them to survive and reproduce.

Hopefully finally we can come out with some solutions to make a “greener business” for seal hunting with most degree of consensus.

References:

Canada Commercial Seal Hunt Animal Alliance of Canada retreived from http://www.animalalliance.ca/campaigns/canadian-commercial-seal-hunt-seafood-boycott.html

Fisheries and oceans Canada Canada Seal harvest at a glance retreived from  http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/seal-phoque/facts-faits/facts-faitsb-eng.htm

Fisheries and oceans Canada Frequently asked questions about seal harvest retreived from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/seal-phoque/faq-eng.htm

Graphic Video Of Annual Canadian Seal Hunt Released By Animal Rights Group, Nicker Visser, 2015 retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/20/canada-baby-seals-killed_n_7087092.html

Myths and facts: The truth about Canada’s commercial seal hunt Humane Society International/Canada, 2008 retreived from http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/work/protect_seals/research/seal_myths_and_facts.html

Return to Canada’s killing fields: Government gives green light for almost HALF A MILLION seals to be killed for their fur in annual cull – and vast majority will be pups who die by a club or ice pick to the head, Sara Malm, 2015, retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3014363/Canada-s-killing-fields-Government-gives-green-light-HALF-MILLION-seals-killed-fur-annual-cull-vast-majority-pups.html