Transforming The Hunt

[Peter Emberley]

Sealers association has new plan of action to revitalize the
industry

 

The commercial sealing industry has run aground.  

But despite the hard times, the Canadian Sealers Association says it will be
back to smooth sailing in just two years.

Sealing data for 2008 onward, including this season, shows the lull in the
industry.

While, in a prosperous year, 200 or 300 boats might have been out for the
seal hunt at the Front, only 35 or so have taken part this year. As of May 10,
about 38,000 seals had been landed of the 450,000 quota.

Sealers agree that 2011 will likely be a low for most — including those who
made the trip out.

“It was a poor year. Very little ice,” said Eldred Woodford, a sealer
operating out of Twillingate and the president of the Canadian Sealers
Association.

“We just couldn’t find any seals.”

Then again, it’s difficult to track seals in his area — off the northeast
coast of Newfoundland, 80 to 100 miles from St. Anthony — when there are so few
boats out, he said. Normally, a boat finding seals will signal others to let
them know of large finds.

Many factors contributed to the low number of hunters this year, said Frank
Pinhorn, executive director of the Canadian Sealers Association.

First there is the price for pelts — $20 or $21, when $35 is needed to
sustain fishermen, Pinhorn said.

“As the price makes a downward spiral, the participation rate will follow
accordingly.”

The high price of fuel doesn’t help, he said, along with the fact that seal
products derived from furs are largely luxury items.

 

“We’re still being negatively impacted by the recession. That has not run its
course yet,” he said.

The European ban on Canadian seal products continues to be a problem, because
the lack of new markets causes uncertainty for processors. It’s a problem for
sealers, Pinhorn said, because pelts have been pre-purchased by the processors
for the last two years.

 

Turning things around

Both Pinhorn and Woodford said some of those factors could be addressed
before next spring — particularly with a new and improved Canadian Sealers
Association.

“We’ve just completed a reorganization and business plan with a consultant,”
Pinhorn said.

“One of the items they’ve identified where we’ve got to have a more
meaningful role is on national and international issues.”

Pinhorn said the association is already connecting with “like partners”
around the world, gathering pro-sealing contacts — primary and secondary
processors, sealers in other countries, designers of seal fur clothing,
promoters of seal oils and meats — in an effort to build a stronger base for the
industry.

 

He said the organization is also developing its political and public relations.

 

The association is establishing an office in St. John’s, which should be up
and running by the end of the summer. It is also working on a strategic plan for
future operations on behalf of sealers.

Pinhorn said it wants to become involved in developing new markets for
Canadian seal products in China, something the federal government announced in
January as a path worth pursuing.

“These announcements, while they’re good in principal to support the
industry, a lot of details have to be worked out so that it can be brought
forward to really benefit the sealer,” he said.

 

He said the organization is also developing its political and public
relations arms, and will become more vocal on behalf of its members.

 

Protesting the protestors

Pinhorn said sealers want to see greater restrictions on non-sealers who head
out to the Front — something that surprised Sheryl Fink of the International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

“I would say that we have a significant lack of freedom, and that observing
the seal hunt is an extremely difficult undertaking in the best of years,” she
said.

“The number of observation permits granted is rationed based on the number of
boats out, and it is completely at (the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s)
discretion. We must apply and go through an interview process before being
permitted, we must report in and report out each day that we are observing, and
we must follow the limits and requirements of our permits.”

Even so, Pinhorn says the IFAW teams, as well as other animal rights and
protest groups, are not properly trained to be operating from the boats they
have used in past years and they scare seals off the ice — interfering with the
hunt — when they are out in aircraft, as they have been this year.

 

Courtsey of The Telegram