SEAL HUNT TO CLOSE EARLY

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***SEE ALERT BELOW FOR DETAILS***

 

 

~CANADA'S SEAL HUNT TO CLOSE EARLY AFTER LOW HARVEST~

 

Michel Comte

April 15, 2010 - 6:09PM

 

A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and a

European boycott have ruined what was to be a banner seal hunt off Canada's

Atlantic coast this month, according to officials and sealers.

 

Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea last month increased by 50,000 the

allowable catch of harp seals this season to 330,000, in defiance of a ban on

seal products by the European Union.

 

But most of Canada's 6,000 sealers stayed home, unable to find buyers for their

catch or stymied by a lack of ice floes for the first time in 60 years on the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which usually host hordes of seals birthing pups.

 

" The European boycott was devastating to the industry this year, as was the lack

of ice on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence due to an exceptionally warm winter, " Jean

Richard, Canadian fisheries department conservation chief for the Quebec coastal

region, told AFP.

 

" The hunt, as a result of reduced market demand, has been scaled back

substantially, " added Larry Yetman, fisheries resource management officer for

the Newfoundland and Labrador coastal region.

 

Fewer than 50 sealing ships launched from Newfoundland ports, down from 500 in

past years. Others would have eagerly set out to reap this year's higher pelt

prices -- at 21 US dollars, nearly double last year's prices.

 

But there was now only one local buyer, NuTan Furs, which said upfront it would

buy less than 15,000 pelts from a dedicated group of sealers this year.

 

" Every sealer in Newfoundland would have considered going out on the ice for

that price, but there aren't any buyers, " Yetman said.

 

He lamented that sealing conditions were otherwise ripe for a bountiful harvest

along the Labrador coast: " The ice is close to shore, not heavy, and easily

penetrated by sealing vessels. "

 

" Unfortunately, we expect market demand to be satisfied in a couple of days, and

then we would talk about closing the hunt, " likely after less than 15 percent of

the quota has been reached, he said.

 

To the south, a solitary ship set off with 10 crew onboard last week from the

Magdalen Islands, where former Beatle Paul McCartney led a seal hunt protest in

2006, in search of prey for Quebec eateries.

 

The rest of the island's fleet remained docked, each ship too small to venture

far beyond the Saint Lawrence seaway.

 

Denis Longuepee, president of the Magdalen Islands seal hunters association,

said the steel-hulled 65-foot vessel Jean-Mathieu had already returned from

Labrador coastal waters after nine days, with 2,200 seal carcasses.

 

Rejean Vigneau, a sealer and owner of a Magdalen Island butcher shop that

specializes in seal meat, said their harvest was disappointing -- half of what

he had hoped for.

 

" Normally, we never go hunting for seal meat, " he commented. " We hunt for pelts

and also bring back the meat. But there's no market for seal pelts this year. "

 

Except for NuTan, all of Canada's seasonal seal processing companies have been

shuttered, forcing the Jean-Mathieu crew to " throw pelts back in the water. "

 

" It's a disaster, really unthinkable, " Vigneau said. " It's the first time ever

that this has happened. "

 

Longuepee told AFP that there remained " a lot of demand for seal meat " as a

delicacy, triple what it was last year and growing, but fisheries officials

insist the market for the meat is still relatively small.

 

To try to boost demand, Canada's Fur Institute is expected to soon launch a seal

cookbook originally published by the European Union, ironically three years

before EU states voted in 2009 to ban the marketing of seal products from 2010

onwards.

 

In Ottawa, efforts are now underway to try to open up new markets for seal pelts

in Asia while the EU ban -- called for by animal rights groups -- is being

challenged at the World Trade Organization.

 

This story was found at:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/canadas-seal-hunt-to-close-early-afte\

r-low-harvest-20100415-sh9q.html

 

........................................................................

 

-CROSS-POST WIDELY-

 

 

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%80%93again-sealer-filth-seeks-like-minded-thugs-in-china-to-fuel-future-massacr\

es/

 

 

Canada has a population of 36 million people. Of those, approximately 6,000

individuals are actively using their government issued licenses to take part in

the yearly savagery of assaulting and murdering helpless babies. These 6,000 are

holding the nation of Canada and the rest of the world at bay. This tiny

minority is being empowered by the knuckle-dragging goons in government --- the

DFO's Gail Shea and Prime Minister Stephen Harper --- who have not only ignored

world opinion but have UPPED THE KILL QUOTA in the face of an environmental

disaster. Global warming is causing the massive drowning deaths of infant seals

as their nurseries, the ice pans, crumble and dissolve, leaving mothers no other

choice but to give birth in the open sea. Rational people, compassionate people,

people with a moral conscience would at least SUSPEND THE SLAUGHTER--not--UP THE

NUMBER OF VICTIMS TO BE MURDERED. But, we aren't dealing with 'rational' people.

We are dealing

with psychopaths -- individuals who are hardwired for cruelty...who actually

enjoy torturing and murdering...who are so addicted to the high they experience

from inflicting their ungodly venomous brutality that they are literally insane

with the drive to kill. They cannot be reasoned with any more than someone who

is totally blind and rabid. 40 years of begging, cajoling and threatening have

made little impact on a segment of the population which does not possess the

ability to see the reality of the heinous acts they commit, through any but

their own highly deluded eyes.

 

 

Boycotting ***ONLY EASTERN CANADA*** is the MOST effective means to stop

commercial sealing for good, because it is the ONLY approach that takes money

DIRECTLY FROM THE POCKETS OF SEALERS, and the small businesses which support

sealing.

 

If these thugs are denied a living in the summer, fall and winter even the most

brain-dead will begin to understand that the income gleaned from a few weeks

worth of bashing babies will NOT off-set the financial losses they will suffer

the rest of the year.

 

WHY THE CANADIAN SEAFOOD BOYCOTT HAS FAILED AFTER NEARLY 5 YEARS AND WILL NEVER

WORK

 

To put it simply, this is a WAR. If one invades a country intent on winning,

they must FOCUS DIRECTLY ON THE ENEMY not waste their firepower on secondary

targets. Boycotting Canadian seafood is a “secondary†target. WHY? Because

many commercial fishers /sealers have other lucrative markets for their seafood

— Europe being the largest. Therefore they will never be “brokenâ€

financially by an American boycott of their ‘products.’

 

WHY A GENERAL BOYCOTT OF CANADA WILL NEVER WORK

 

Boycotting all of Canada is not only unfair, it DILUTES the power of such a

strategy because it does NOT target the GUILTY! It will NOT WORK because it does

NOTHING to hone in on, and financially pressure, the REAL culprits — those

doing the killing — specifically, EASTERN CANADA! Secondly, the only reason

for boycotting ALL of Canada would be to send a message to the Canadian

government. The Canadian government has CONSISTENTLY AND BELLIGERENTLY PROTECTED

AND SUBSIDIZED SEALING FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS–AND FOR A FEW CENTURIES PRIOR TO

THAT — THEY ARE OBSTACLES AND MUST BE BYPASSED.

 

The only effective strategy to help end sealing is to DISENFRANCHISE the

government and stop wasting time protesting and petitioning those in power who

are corrupt and DEAF to the demands of the people.

 

TARGETING SEALERS FOR BOYCOTT, WITH THEIR SMALL TOWN ECONOMIES, DIRECTLY

BYPASSES GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION! In other words, it doesn’t matter how much

the government subsidizes sealers for the few weeks they are out rampaging on

the ice, if a sealer isn’t able to survive the rest of the year, he will be

forced to give up sealing and get a REAL JOB! And make no mistake, there are

plenty of good jobs to be had in Newfoundland/Labrador [unlike the absolute lies

told by the DFO and locals]. Hydro and wind technologies are high paying

positions — and they are looking for trainees!

 

Sealers murder because it is THEIR CHOICE and for NO OTHER REASON.

 

SEND A SHORT MESSAGE [Email Sample Below] TO THE FOLLOWING TOURISM BOARDS

LETTING THEM KNOW THAT YOU’LL BE TARGETING SEALING PROVINCES FOR BOYCOTT:

 

AND PLEASE:

 

#1

BOYCOTT SEAFOOD — ALL SEAFOOD — NOT JUST CANADIAN

Buying seafood supports seal, dolphin and whale slaughter, worldwide. Better yet

— GO VEGAN!

 

#2

Concentrate the boycott on EASTERN CANADA–the sealing provinces ONLY. They are

the ones KILLING and they are the ones which MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!

 

#3

Let EASTERN CANADIAN tourism boards KNOW you are boycotting seafood,

tourism, goods/services and internet trade until the slaughter is outlawed:

 

QUEBEC TOURISM:

EMAIL: info

[info at bonjourquebec dot com]

 

NOVA SCOTIA TOURISM

EMAIL: info

[info at nstourism dot com

 

MAGDALEN ISLANDS TOURISM

EMAIL: info

[info at tourismeilesdelamadeleine dot com]

 

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR TOURISM

EMAIL: tourisminfo

[tourisminfo at mail dot gov dot nf dot ca]

 

Sirs:

 

I, my friends, family and associates will be boycotting ALL goods, services and

travel to Canada’s EAST COAST PROVINCES. We will do everything within our

power to force an end to your mindless destruction of Harp and Grey seal

populations. I sincerely hope that the specter of a sharp economic decline will

help you realize that these animals are valuable; they are revered, not for the

currency their body parts bring, but because they have a right to a peaceful

existence, the same right which you so arrogantly afford yourselves, but deny

your victims. When the slaughter stops, the money will flow.

 

Sincerely,

Name/Country