Canadian Seafood Boycott a Dismal Failure
Today is federal budget day folks. A time of excitement and wonder for political junkies like me.
While I prepare for the onslaught of news, analysis and spin, that will begin around 5:00 pm NL time this evening, I'll leave you with one final article (for now anyway) on the entire seal harvest issue.
After the budget comes down and we know one way or another whether it should be considered a clear declaration of war on Newfoundland and Labrador, or at least if it's worth a 1000 words of commentary, I'll be back online and performing my own spin doctoring duties on the issue.
In the mean time enjoy the following article and oh, by the way, to the person who wrote in asking me why I post so many articles on the seal hunt and suggested that I find a new topic I'd like to say: Someone has to get the truth out, no I'm not a sealer and if you don't appreciate reading about the seal issue then the web is a big place and there are many other sites, maybe even a dozen of them, that you could check out. I heard once there were hundreds but I doubt that very much. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if there was even one dedicated to your specific interests.
Cheers,
Myles
The Canadian seafood boycott being waged by animal rights (not animal welfare) groups like HSUS has proven to be a a dismal failure.
While anti-sealing groups would like the soft hearted and donation rich public to believe that a call for boycott of Canadian seafood products is actually having an effect on the fishing industry in Canada they are clearly out of touch with reality once again.
Over the past year or so the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has flatly denied any significant impact from the efforts of anti-sealing group's like HSUS to convince foriegn buyers to avoid Canadian sea products. Now local fishing industry numbers out of Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the largest proponents of the seal harvest, confirm that the boycott is having no significant effect.
On March 8, the Newfoundland and Labrador government released its annual report on the condition of the provincial seafood industry and it clearly shows that the fishing industry has overcome significant global challenges in 2006 despite claims by the anti-sealing lobby. In addition, those challenges did not include the boycott which didn't even merit a dishonorable mention.
In a press release Provincial Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Tom Rideout, noted that there is much reason to remain optimistic, despite the negative impacts of a high Canadian dollar, soft markets, stiff competition from low cost producers and high international tariffs.
I'd say that's an understatement, Tom. If the numbers presented show anything they show an industry that is growing in spite of the global challenges facing it.
Minister Rideout noted that 2006 was a tremendous year for the seal harvest in particular, with production values reaching $55 million, up from $40 million recorded in 2005, an increase in value of more than 35%. $30.2 million of this went directly to sealers and their families and thanks to a high world demand for the products the value of pelts rose to $105 each, up from $56 in 2005. It is expected that the price per pelt will rise even higher this season. Some estimates put the value at nearly $120 per pelt.
While the seal harvest continues to garner record revenues needed to help sustain local fishermen, it should be noted that thanks to intensive industry management and conservation efforts the population of the Atlantic seal herd has grown. While numbers dipped just slightly this year, the herd is now sitting near the highest population level seen in decades. Sealers take less than 2% of the population each year in an effort to safe guard the healthy sustainability of the herd and to ensure the livelihood it provides.
2006 also marked an increase in shellfish landings and seafood production value, while lower than in 2005 when it reached $940 million, stood at $900 million in 2006. Still near historically high levels.
"The aquaculture sector also reached a significant milestone in 2006," said Minister Rideout, "and it continues to emerge as a flagship industry for rural Newfoundland and Labrador. During 2006, production surpassed 10,000 tonnes with an associated $52.3 million in export value." The production numbers represent an increase of 28.6% over the previous year.
If a boycott of Canadian seafood by animal rights groups means that Newfoundland and Labrador can increase its production value on seals by over 35% while ensuring the seal population continues to thrive, then I'm all in favor of it.
If it also means that near record levels for other seafood products can be attained and that the aquaculture sector can grow by nearly 29% then bring it on.
Boycott to your hearts delight folks. It's clear that this boycott is ineffective at anything other than convincing a sadly misinformed public that their donations are being put to good use.
7 comments:
Tell it like it is!!!
These groups are full of it. They suck hundreds of millions of dollars out of the pockets of caring and uninformed individuals who are just trying to do their part for the planet while demonizing hard working fishermen.
Listen, if you want to donate to a worthy cause skip these crackpots and find some legitimate group that is really tackling a serious issue.
Seals are not endangered
Everthing than can be done is being done to ensure that they are killed as humanely as possible.
Families depend on the revenue the hunt generates.
Seals provide food, fur, health food oil (omega 3).
meanwhile children are starving around the world, truly endangered species are being neglected, the environment has gone to hell and wars kill thousands around the globe. Come on folks, put your hard earned money and your compassion to much better use than protesting a sustainable and humane seal hunt.
Anon: Well said. Who, in the SCAMMER group, cares about the starving children of the world, or the people who are suffering with unimaginable diseases? Some countries in Africa have millions dying from AIDs. Not one of these Scammers care, all the Scammers care about are spreading lies and lining their pockets with the monies that are donated to them from the lies and mis-information they spread about the seal harvest.
If the Scammers cared about the suffering of animals, the seal would not be the animal chosen, since the seal is the less tortured animal in the animals groups that are harvested , it would be the duck or goose raised for `foie-gras`or calves raised for `veal. The seal gets to frolic in the sea up to the minute it is harvested, while the duck, goose and calf, reared for `foie-gras`or `veal` are a captured prey right from the beginning and are tortured right until the day they are harvested for the specialty meats for which they are raised.
These animals are raised in cages and crates with not much more space than what their bodies occupy. The conditions under which these poor creatures are reared are horrendous, barbaric and cruel. There are many other adjectives I can use to describe the conditions with, but those adjectives will suffice for the moment. And it is little chance with the influence that the `foie`-gras and veal`industries wield in the corridors of power, both in governments and corporations around the world, that either of these industries can be taken down. It would take every cent of the hundreds of millions that are brought in on the image of the seal, and that still would not be enough. The donations that are garned by the seal is all gravy, very little has to be spent of it, other than what goes into the pockets of the Scammers, since there has been very little opposition from the sealers. Of course, the sealers have no influence in the corridors of power, government or corporations. It must change.
Those Scammers cannot raise donation monies on any other animal, the only animal that is capable of raising $100 million dollars plus is the seal. If you read in Myles archives, he has archived in his library on this site where the leader of the group lambasted another leader for using the seal as the image back in the 1970s. The present leader told the world back then the seal has an omnipresent tear in its eye and it is guaranteed to bring in large donations. Once that leader gave up his post and recived his million dollars payoff way back in the 1970s, the present leader adopted the seal as his poster image and has been enjoying the success of hundreds of millions of dollar campaigns ever since. How hypocritical?
The ``foie gras and veal`` industries wield huge influence in the corridors of power of governments and corporations around the world, while the `seal harvesting`industry enjoys no influence or power anywhere. The playing field must be levelled and that has to changed. The only people who have the ability to change it are the sealers. They have to protect their industry from the Scammer scavengers or it will not survive.
Good enough..move on.
I look forward to your next article whining about the unfair Budget now.
Don't disapoint me!
At least one marine and wildlife conservation group is praising the seal hunt.
The Switzerland-based International Wildlife Management Consortium World Conservation Trust is hailed as the world's leading 'pro-sustainable use' conservation group.
Eugene LaPointe, president of the IWMC, criticizes the protest campaign for being self-indulgent.
He says the harvest does not threaten the harp seal with extinction. He says the animal rights groups fail to acknowledge that the Canadian harp seal harvest is sustainable or that it benefits other species by controlling the rapid growth of one of the region's main predators.
The IWMC also believes that much of the protestors' publicity material is deliberately misleading.
LaPointe says Canada's seal management plan provides a model for other countries to follow. As well, he says the best way for consumers to encourage conservation is to buy products from countries like Canada.
Myles,
You are an unmitigated liar.
A newspaper recently had an article detailing just how successful the boycott has been, to the point that processors voiced their concerns to the Minister Hearn.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=2b5d6a61-00d8-4865-83b9-1059039b2a3d&k=16443
Fisheries minister says Canada supports seal hunt, despite market concerns
Canadian Press
Saturday, February 24, 2007
MONCTON, N.B. (CP) - Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn says Canada will push back against negative messages about the annual East Coast seal hunt, but it will not back down.
Hearn says he heard concerns at a fisheries meeting in Moncton, N.B., about the impact the seal hunt protest is having on global markets for Canadian seafood.
Some processors say they are being warned by customers that they will lose business if they are in any way involved in the hunt.
Hearn says the Canadian government is working hard to get out the message that the seal hunt is humane and sustainable.
He says people who believe otherwise are misinformed.
Opponents of the annual hunt have focused their efforts in recent years on a boycott of Canadian seafood and on closing international markets for seal products;
I know you Newfoundlanders aren't all that smart when it comes to grammar, language and the meaning of words, but I would point you to this sentence; "Hearn says he heard concerns at a fisheries meeting in Moncton, N.B., about the impact the seal hunt protest IS having on global markets for Canadian seafood."
I put the important word in Capitals so even an ignoramus like you couldn't miss it.
So it's clear you would rather lie to your readers than engage in honest discourse. Luckily, your more competent brethren aren't so disingenuous.
Hi anon. You can call me an ignoramus or an idiot or anything else you like but you can't argue with the numbers. yes some fishers are concerned because of conversations they've had but those are isolated incidents and nervous individuals. Whether or not I'm an ignoramus or not, the fact remains that the numbers don't lie. Seal harvest value up nearly 35%, revenue from fishing at near record levels and aquaculture value increased by about 28%.
Since you seem to feel your intelligence level is much greater than mine why don't you explain how this could happen if the boycott was seriously impacting the industry?
I’ll start by saying two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s not right to confine calves and pigs in small quarters, it’s not right to force-feed ducks and geese and it’s not right to kill seal pups by the hundreds of thousands that are defenseless and cannot even swim.
Now, let me explain why this is so horrible to most humans. The footage of conscious seal pups being dragged across the ice by sharpened boat hooks, and struggling pups being skinned and the sealer would club them again and start cutting. Or just simply the fact that these pups cannot escape and their fear is seen just before the club comes down. These images are why so many people believe this hunt to not only be inhumane, but unethical. This is Canada’s dirty little secret that you are defending. It is inhumane and outdated brutal slaughter. Not just that, but the largest massacre of marine mammals on the planet. Sorry, but that is the truth and you can call the people who are protesting this a bunch of scammers all you want, but there is no place in this world today for this, or any kind of cruelty anywhere. This is particularly sad, because these pups are killed for nothing more than their fur…the rest of the body lays on the ice. Yep, life is cheap.
There are many of us that will still continue to protest this you can be assured, including Canadians and of course our strongest ally, Mother Nature.
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