NOTE TO EDITORS:

The following letter from Trevor Taylor, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, appears today in the April 13, 2005 edition of the Globe and Mail:


Margaret Wente has again shown she does not understand Newfoundland and Labrador or rural Canada (Our Black Eye: Most Of The Seal Hunt Propaganda Is True - April 7).

We can agree that the seal harvest is about propaganda; that is, memorable images are used to generate an emotional response. Seals are killed on pristine ice floes where blood plays to the cameras. Slaughterhouses and fur farms also provide meat and clothing, but they operate behind closed doors, away from celebrity spokespersons and video.

Some environmental lobbyists shamelessly promote misleading images of the seal fishery. They also use human words like "baby" and photos of young whitecoats (which have been protected since 1987). As Ms. Wente points out, these lobbyists are driven by money because the seal harvest remains a key part of their international fundraising campaigns.

The power of propaganda speaks to the irony that these groups and the public have no interest in the continued overfishing of moratoria fish species. Some European nations still purposely catch fish that are at risk of devastation. The seal population, by comparison, is at some of the highest levels ever recorded, but seals are above the water and ready to be captured on film.

For hundreds of people, sealing provides a significant source of income before the spring fishing season. That's why they risk their lives in a dangerous industry.

Ms. Wente's lack of awareness of the economic hardships facing people in remote areas of Canada - who, she claims, should set their "sights a little higher" and go "to night school to get retraining" - is unfair and disrespectful. Her ill-informed commentary about rural Canada and the seal fishery widely promotes unjust stereotypes.

Trevor Taylor, MHA
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

Media contact: Alex Marland, Communications, (709) 729-3733


2005 04 13                   9:40 a.m.