It’s been very interesting to see the internal response to questions raised by a Canadian MP, Ryan Cleary, to the notorious ‘seal hunt’ that takes place every Spring on Canada’s east coast. Mr Cleary did not even outright condemn the clubbing of young seals (clubbing ‘whitecoats’ – very young Harp Seals under 12 days old – is banned now, but as a Canadian Broadcasting News FAQs article puts it, once they reach that age “they’re fair game for hunters” – a phrase that profoundly misunderstands the meaning of the word ‘fair’), he merely suggested that Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador was “taking a lot of heat” for an industry which he says was worth only $1 million to the province last year.
It would seem sensible to most people to question whether Canada is doing itself any good supporting a small ‘industry’ that is reviled around the world as much as Japan’s whaling. Mr Cleary even predicted what would come, saying that “We know that the world appetite is not there for seal meat, but the world appetite for seal products — I don’t know if it’s there. And you know what? I may be shot for talking about this, and for saying this, but it’s a question we all have to ask.”
He may not have been shot – yet anyway – but he unleashed the kind of rabid comments from inside the seal/fur industry once reserved for doctors who questioned Big Tobacco. The fur industry in Canada, much like the National Rifle Association (or closer to home the wagon-circlers of Malta’s hunting lobby the FKNK) is a shrill, vociferous group of self-interests that are quick to rave about ‘way of life’, ‘attacks on culture’, and how they speak for the ‘people’ when they are attacked – all the while typically trying to suggest that the rest of the world simply has got it wrong.
Predictably, Mr Cleary backed down – presumably fearful for his job and that he may somehow appear ‘anti-Canadian’ for questioning an ‘industry’ that according to figures from Newfoundland and Labrador only provides ‘some income from sealing’ to around 5,000 to 6,000 people, or about one per cent of the provincial population. As stated above the seal industry was worth just $1 million last year, which is vanishingly small compared with, say, the $73.4 billion in tourism revenues Canada took in 2010.
And it’s that last figure that – for me anyway – puts this story into context. Tourists are buying into Canada’s wilderness image in massive numbers, and not being put off by Canada’s nastier side in any way. So why bring the subject up at all? Why not just let sealing wither on the vine, which it is doing anyway (especially since the EU imposed a ban on the import of seal pelts in May 2009)? I suspect that it’s because for most people – including perhaps Mr Cleary before he so ingloriously backed down in the face of a few wealthy furriers and angry sealers – the massacring of seals on the ice floes is distasteful, as morally wrong perhaps as blowing the inside of a whale apart with an explosive harpoon. There should be, for many people anyway, no place in this world for killing like this no matter how much revenue it does – or doesn’t – ‘earn’.
As will be obvious from what I discuss on Talking Naturally I stand unashamedly in the ‘pro animal-welfare’ camp. Interestingly, though, having followed the arguments between the sealers and welfare groups for some years I find that I do have some sympathy for one of the sealers’ arguments to support their ‘industry’, ie that regulations imposed on sealers mean that killing a seal is now no less humane that what takes place in many slaughterhouses every minute of every hour of every day all around the world.
Now that’s something worth thinking about, eh…
- ‘Seal hunt comments draw stinging rebukes’, CBC News, 25 January, 2012
MP Ryan Cleary flayed by industry proponents, political opponents over
remarksSt. John’s South-Mount Pearl MP Ryan Cleary is facing criticism over
comments he made this week questioning the future of the seal hunt.In an interview with CBC’s Fisheries Broadcast, Cleary spoke about the
viability of the hunt.“We know that the world appetite is not there for seal meat, but the
world appetite for seal products — I don’t know if it’s there,” Cleary
said. “And you know what? I may be shot for talking about this, and for
saying this, but it’s a question we all have to ask.”A troika of federal Conservative cabinet ministers issued a joint
statement Tuesday clubbing the rookie NDP MP for his remarks.“For someone who ran supposedly to represent the interests of the people
of Newfoundland and Labrador, MP Ryan Cleary’s comments seem to show
that he’s giving up on supporting local sealers,” said the statement by
Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister
Peter Penashue, and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who represents
Nunavut.“Unlike the whaling industry, there is no conservation reason to end the
hunt. Though the industry continues to battle misinformation put forth
by animal rights activists who try to close market access, our
government sees no commercial reason to end the hunt.”Unexpected comments
Cleary also faced criticism closer to home.
Frank Pinhorn, executive director of the Canadian Sealers Association,
said the comments were unexpected.
“I thought that he would represent the interest of the hard-working
sealer, the hard-working commercial fishermen and I thought that he
would represent our views and advocate our way of life here,” Pinhorn
said.
Pinhorn says he would have preferred if Cleary had spoken with the
sealers group before making the comments, to help develop an approach to
change the Harper government’s “weak and ineffective” position on
sealing.“What (Cleary) did was an insult to every fisherman and every person in
rural Newfoundland and Labrador,” Pinhorn said.A businessman whose company depends on the seal fishery was left shaking
his head over Cleary’s comments.
Dion Dakins of NuTan Furs in Catalina says the industry is already
waging an external battle, and doesn’t need to be sidetracked by
internal doubt.“I certainly don’t think that it’s the most helpful in this debate to
have that question posed by someone who’s supposedly the ‘Fighting
Newfoundlander.’ That doesn’t sound much like the fighting
Newfoundlander that certainly we think we need in this battle. We’re in
a 40-year war on this seal issue.”The seal hunt was worth about $1 million last year. Dakins says he’d
like to hear Cleary voice stronger support for the seal fishery, rather
than talk reflectively about it.Meanwhile, in Twillingate, reaction to the comments was also negative.
“What’s going to happen to the rest of the cod and stuff like that now —
going to have to put a cull on it?” Gus Young asked.Cleary issued a news release on his website Tuesday “to clarify
misleading comments in the media” about his position.He said the NDP stand on the seal hunt has not changed. “The party and I
are in full support of the commercial seal hunt — period,” he said in
the statement.“The debate about the future viability of the industry is a worthy one
and it needs to happen. It can only be a good thing as we chart a future
course for our overall fishery. Having this debate does not signify in
any way an end to the hunt — we simply need to start talking. For too
long, simply raising the seal hunt issue has been taboo. It shouldn’t
be.”At least one seal hunt opponent was happy with Cleary.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued an “action
team alert” Tuesday, calling his comments “terrific news.”
Related posts:
