Speaking points for
John Efford
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture
To The Rotary Club of Ottawa
February 9, 1998
THE SEALING INDUSTRY OF NEWFOUNDLAND
AND LABRADOR
I want to thank the Rotary Club of Ottawa for the
opportunity to speak to you today. I am delighted to be here.
My topic is the sealing industry in Newfoundland
and Labrador. To have a full appreciation for what this industry
means to our province, it has to be viewed in the context of our
entire fishing industry and its role in our economy.
People's
livelihoods disappeared overnight
The shock waves were felt throughout
Atlantic Canada, but the crisis was centred in
Newfoundland and Labrador -- more than 70 per cent of the
impacts were in our province.
Groundfish landings that had exceeded an
annual average of 370,000 tonnes in the late 1980s,
dropped by 93 percent by 1996.
The collapse of major stocks put 27,000
people out of work
In 1996, our unemployment rate was double
the national rate and almost three times the lowest
recorded provincial rate in Saskatchewan.
At least 75,000 full year equivalent jobs
are needed just to bring our employment and unemployment
rate on par with the national average.
Out-migration is a significant factor in
rural communities, particularly those impacted by the
groundfish crisis. Pickup trucks leave the province
filled with a life's
worth of personal effects.
In the first nine months of 1997, the net
out-migration was more than 8,500 -- higher than
the total recorded for all 12 months of 1996 (which set
an annual net-migration record of 8,380).
If this trend continued in the last quarter of 1997 it is
very likely that annual net out-migration exceeded the
10,000 mark for the first time.
Between July, 1993 and October, 1997 the
province has lost more than 32,000 people to
interprovincial outmigration. The population has declined
by 25,000 or 4.3 per cent.
The youngest and brightest leave in
search of economic opportunity
Newfoundland and Labrador still has
fisheries.
There are many success stories showing how we are
diversifying the industry, developing underutilised
species, and creating new market opportunities.
However, the employment and economic activity generated
by these does not replace what has been lost in the groundfishery.
That is why the sealing industry
continues to be so critical to our rural areas.
The seal harvest takes place at a time of
year when there are very limited opportunities for
harvesters to earn income from other fisheries.
Income from the seal fishery is often the only way many
harvesters have to raise money to get their fishing boats
and gear ready for summer fisheries.
The harvest is nowadays essentially a
small boat harvest, conducted by fishermen from coastal
communities where employment opportunities are scare.
Some of these communities have less than 100 families.
The 1997 seal fishery provided income for
more than 3,000 harvesters and 300 plant workers. The
oil, pelt and meat products of the 246,000 animals
harvested had an export value of about $20 million.
Changes to our sealing industry have been
revolutionary.
Tremendous research and development efforts have
revitalized the industry since the early >80s when a strong
anti-sealing lobby all but destroyed markets for seal
products, mainly fur.
New products have been developed -- seal oil, protein
concentrate, meat products such as pepperoni, pate, sausagesburgers. There is also growth in the area of
leather and fur products.
About five months ago, Omega-3 seal oil capsules became
commercially available on store shelves in Newfoundland.
Now they are available as a health supplement in drug
store chains throughout eastern Canada.
Within six months to a year, expect to see the
commercialization of another new product, seal meat
protein concentrate -- also as a health supplement.
Several companies are interested in setting
up tanneries in the province.
With the development of new products, new
markets have been developed. And they are growing,
particularly in Asia.
a sustainable harvest based on solid
science;
an industry based on the full utilization
of the animal; and,
humane harvesting methods with zero
tolerance for any inhumane practices.
Our position is complemented by management
measures put in place by the Government of Canada to regulate the
harvest.
Humane harvesting practices
Strict enforcement
Ban on commercial hunt of whitecoats
Number harvested based on scientific
information and sound conservation principles.
POPULATIONS
We have an abundant, renewable harp seal resource.
In the early 1970s, harp seals numbered
around 1.5 million animals.
A 1994 scientific survey (the most recent
one) put the population at an estimated 4.8 million -
with an annual pup production of 703,000.
The 1994 population figures are outdated.
A conservative estimate of the current harp seal
population is around 5.1 million animals - growing by
five per cent annually (taking into account pup
production, harvest and natural mortality).
These figures do not include five other seal species in
eastern Canadian waters.
IMBALANCE IN MARINE ECOSYSTEM
Growing seal herds give rise to concerns
about an imbalance in the marine ecosystem in eastern
Canadian waters where a moratorium on fishing northern
cod has been in place since 1992.
Not one of the 27,000 people impacted by
the groundfish moratoria is permitted to fish for
northern cod.
5.1 million harp seals can harvest them. This
raises concerns about the impact this is having on efforts to
rebuild groundfish stocks.
HARP SEAL CONSUMPTION OF FISH
Given that the preferred cod size for seals
is actually less than 25 cm, this would mean they are
munching on 300 million baby northern cod per year - more
than 12 times the size of the Canadian population.
More recent information indicates that with
the and the percentage of cod in harp seal's diet remaining
stable or increasing, and in view of the fact that the weight
at age of cod has decreased, the total consumption of
northern cod could be much, much higher. How high that is
differs with the models scientists use to arrive at their
estimates. One preliminary estimate puts the total
consumption as much as 140,000 metric tonnes.
This is most disturbing, particularly in view of the fact
that the weight at age of cod has decreased. It means that number
of juvenile cod consumed by harp seals is much higher than
300 million.
Seals consume annually 340,000 tonnes of
turbot, also a valuable commercial resource in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Seals have voracious appetites for other
species as well, not the least of which is capelin - a
very significant species in the marine food chain. A `96 estimate
indicated that harp seals were consuming more than
800,000 tonnes of capelin.
Other 1996 estimates for harp seal
consumption:
- close to 600,000 tonnes of Arctic cod, more than 85,000
tonnes of herring, around 11,000 tonnes of redfish.
As early as three years ago, the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans indicated that harp
seals were consuming 6.9 million metric tonnes of marine
species annually....More than 50 percent of that came
from Canadian waters.
The Atlantic Salmon Federation has
expressed concern that seals may be a factor in the
failure of salmon to return to rivers in the numbers
anticipated.
Seals have been observed in some areas swimming up rivers
after trout and salmon.
With salmon and cod and others, seals
will consume whole very small fish (30 cm or less), but
with fish bigger than that they bite through the belly
section to get the liver for its oil content.
In short, the marine ecoystem on Canada's east coast is out
of whack. It is unbalanced. Overfishing of stocks by man
may have started the problem. Now, man must fix it.
Nature alone can not restore species balance to our
marine ecosystem.
IFAW CAMPAIGN
However, their misleading propaganda
campaigns have been economically devastating for aboriginal
people who have a profound dependance on seals.
The President of the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference said recently:
"Although
Inuit were never directly a target of the anti-sealing
campaigns, we became perhaps their biggest victims...With
the collapse of the world markets for seal skins in the
1970s and `80s,
our world changed forever. This loss had devastating and
enduring impacts on the Inuit of Greenland and Arctic
Canada."
Renowned author Pierre Burton is clearly not
among them. In a letter to the Globe and Mail, Mr. Burton
said he was appalled that a group of people in the Canadian
arts community had signed an IFAW newspaper ad demanding an
end to the Newfoundland seal hunt.
"Do
these members of the arts community," he asked, "who put their names
on that advertisement realize the legacy they are leaving
behind? In the Arctic the former seal hunters are living on
welfare and lapsing into alcoholism, suicide, family breakup,
and drug abuse. That, not the killing of seals, is the
ultimate immorality."
They claim half a million seals were taken in
the 1997 hunt. ALSO FALSE == 246,000 were taken.
They claim the harvest provides few economic
benefits. FALSE....The `97
fishery had an export value of about $20 million....It
provided income for more than 3,000 sealers and 300 plant
workers.
They claim Canadians paid $3.4 million in
subsidies in 1996 for a seal harvest. FALSE. The total
federal and provincial subsidies in `96 were $1.7 million.
This was reduced to just over $1 million in 1997, will be
reduced again in 1998 and `99.
By the year 2000 it will be zero.
The subsidy was for meat alone, while we were
developing meat products and markets. The seal oil and other
products are already self-supporting.
They claim the harvest is cruel. IN FACT,
commercial licences are limited to professional fishermen.
Humane practices are supported by the industry and strictly
enforced by DFO.
Penalties are among the toughest in the
world.
The harvest is tightly regulated. Violations of the
regulations are not tolerated.
The IFAW has been trying to give the
impression that more than 100 sealers were charged with
cruelty.
What these sealers were actually charged with was SELLING
blueback hood seals. IT IS NOT ILLEGAL TO HUNT BLUEBACKS.
They use graphic details to get an emotional
response that will bring cash to their coffers......splatters
of bright red blood on a field of virginal snow.....blood
dripping drop-by-drop from the business end of a hakapik...a
wide-eyed young seal.
The only difference is that the seal harvest
is conducted in a public arena == an open-space abattoir.
IN CONCLUSION:
The commercial harvesting of seals on Canada's East Coast is more tightly
regulated than ever before, humane practices are strictly
enforced, with penalties for violations among the toughest in the
world.
Seals are an abundant, renewable resource. The
harp seal population is one of the healthiest mammal populations
in the world. It is a resource that allows people in our coastal
communities to pursue their livelihoods with dignity. It provides
a significant resource for aboriginal people.
With the commercialization of new seal products
such as Omega-3 oil and protein concentrate and the expansion of
markets for both new and traditional seal products, the seal
resource offers significant economic benefits in coastal
communities where other employment opportunities are very
limited.
The industry is expanding and is providing a
measure of hope to individuals who have seen their lives
shattered by the collapse of the groundfish sector.
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador fully
intends to continue expanding solid market opportunities so we
can increase the economic benefits from the seal industry. The
misguided activities of the IFAW will not weaken this resolve.
|