New pressure to halt seal hunting

Date: 11/04/1996

By Michael Mann

MEPS and animal welfare lobbies are putting renewed pressure on Norway and Canada to halt commercial seal hunting, amid growing concern that banned products may be finding their way into shops in Europe.

Socialist MEP Robert Evans will meet Commission environment officials soon to call for new proposals to plug the gaps in the existing ban on seal products, originally introduced in 1983 and extended indefinitely six years later.

Welfare lobbies are particularly concerned by Norway's resumption of sealing last month and the decision of

the authorities in Ottawa to increase the annual Canadian quota.

In the face of the EU ban on the import of seal skin products, Norway and Canada - both of which subsidise the industry - have turned their attention to other markets, according to campaigners at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare.

But there is mounting concern that seal products such as those sold in Asia as aphrodisiacs - which can earn Norwegian sealers up to 17 ecu per animal, well above the rate for the fur of an adult seal - may be finding their way on to the European market through speciality oriental shops.

Evans plans to urge his colleagues in the European Parliament to combat this threat by adopting a new resolution to keep out all seal products.

In January, MEPs called on the Commission to ask Norway to prove its assertion that seals - rather than the fishing industry - were responsible for the depletion of fish stocks, to make it clear that the EU condemned seal hunting and to ensure that any products derived from seal slaughter could not be traded on the EU market.

IFAW officials insist there is no evidence that seals must be killed to protect fish stocks.

“Both the Norwegians and Canadians start from the premise that they are going to kill seals, and then look for a rationale for doing it,” said one.

Seal hunting finally began again on Norway's coastal ice on 22 March after a seven-year break, despite initial doubts over whether the subsidies provided by the authorities in Oslo would be sufficient to make the resumption worthwhile. The hunting season on the 'west ice' runs until early May, with a quota of 10,600 harp seals and 1,700 hooded seals, half of which may be unweaned pups. On the 'east ice', the season ends on 20 April and the quota totals 9,500 harp seals.

The latest controversy comes in the wake of recent diplomatic skirmishes between Norway and the EU over fishing regulations and trade in processed food products, both particularly problematic subjects in the wake of Norway's decision not to join the Union.

Oslo is facing the threat of anti-dumping action over its salmon exports into the EU and is still negotiating definitive import duties for a number of food products.

Had Norway joined the Union, there is no doubt that it would not have been permitted to resume seal hunting. At the time of its accession negotiations, enormous difficulties were caused by its insistence that it be allowed to continue commercial whaling.