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Seal Hunting

This is a Group for Members who also hunt seals. Remember That all Non-waterfowl Pics Stay in there respective Groups!! NOT ON THE PHOTOS PAGE!!

Members: 40
Latest Activity: Apr 30, 2018

Seal Usage and Its importance to Rural/Maritime Life and Conservation!

 

Today there are about 6,000 Atlantic Canadians active in the seal hunt. Their culture has been shaped by the inhospitable and sometimes dangerous environment in which they live and work. Sealers and their families have survived for centuries through a social system that is formed around the procuring of seasonally available food; sources from communal kitchen gardens, the harvest of wild berries, the hunting of wild game including sea birds, as well as fresh fish and sea food. From this necessity grew a culture of economic adaptation, hard work and mutual respect.

Today, all sealers are licensed and hunt from their own small fishing boats, as large vessels are prohibited for sealing. Almost all sealers are seasonal fishermen who rely on sealing to help compensate for declining stocks of commercial fish such as cod.

In 1992, over 40,000 people lost their jobs when the collapse of cod stocks off the east coast of Newfoundland forced the Canadian government to close the fishery.

In 2006, the landed value of the harp seal hunt exceeded C$30 million. To people living in isolated villages with a limited range of employment options, a few thousand dollars is significant. Considered in context, sealing can make an enormous impact on a family’s well-being: In Canada, the top homeports for sealers have unemployment rates that are in excess of 30% higher than the national average. For some sealers, the income they gain from sealing represents 25-35% of their total annual income.

To these people, seals provide a livelihood, but they also provide meat for the table. In Newfoundland, it is estimated that the edible portion of one harp seal is worth an equivalent of $150 of store-bought meat (Dakins, 2007, Loring, 1993).

The primary objective of sealers is to earn income through sales or “in kind” through direct usage of the products available from the seals they kill.

Seals provide four products: fur, leather, fat (rendered for Omega3 medicinal oil) and meat. The bulk of the meat is located in the “flippers”, which the sealers take leaving the mostly meatless carcasses on the ice to return to the eco-system, as the ice melts the carcasses slip back into the ocean and provide food for other species. What at first glance appears to be wastage is in fact a “green” solution to problem of offal disposal faced by abattoirs worldwide.

Rural, maritime peoples are dependent on their environment for their livelihood. They utilize resources such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, seals and other wildlife for exactly the same reason urbanites hold jobs in factories and offices – to provide income to feed and cloth their families.

Sustainable use of a natural, renewable resource is the internationally accepted principle of man’s use of animals for food, clothing and income in a manner that ensures the continued existence of healthy, stable (or growing) population levels of the species being utilized.

The concept is rooted in scientific management principles to determine appropriate usage levels given the biology, natural mortality and environment of the species. These factors are used to set conservationally sound, conservative quotas, which are monitored and modified on an on-going basis.

The Harp seal population of the northwestern Atlantic is a prime example of the sustainable use principle, as the population has tripled under this management regime to the present level. The principle of the sustainable use of a natural, renewable resource meets this requirement ecologically, conservationally and morally. The Canadian seal hunt is one of the world’s best examples of a “green” approach to the use of a natural, renewable resource: seals.
(Excerpts posted with permission from, http://www.thesealfishery.com

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Discussion Forum

Seal Products

Started by La The Phong Dec 6, 2016. 0 Replies

Hi all seal hunters in NL,I am in search of seal products to export to a country in Asia (not China). It would be nice if I could get in touch of a group of hunters that can provide a steady source…Continue

Are there any Seals in Trinity Bay or Conception Bay yet?

Started by Jeff Wish Apr 30, 2013. 0 Replies

Are the young seals in yet. Anybody been out. I was out last week and never saw much of anything in Conception Bay. I'm working and wondering how people are making out..Continue

personal sealing course

Started by John T. Last reply by Jeff Wish Mar 25, 2013. 1 Reply

i done the course a few years back do i have to do it again or can i just go pick up a liscence  can someone let me know thanksContinue

seal license

Started by kenneth Griffiths. Last reply by kenneth Griffiths Mar 26, 2012. 4 Replies

Where does one go about getting a sea lic in Newfoundland?Continue

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Seal Hunting to add comments!

Comment by Peter Emberley on March 21, 2016 at 10:31am

The IFFAW is running it's anti seal hunting campaign again this year. Lets keep our support strong for the hunt and our sealers.

Comment by Peter Emberley on March 13, 2015 at 6:04pm

Comment by Jeff Wish on May 21, 2013 at 2:15pm
Any body getting seals in the bays..what time does it close
Comment by Edward Smith on June 4, 2012 at 9:25pm

Hey Guys & Gals,

sign this petition to get the RNC to put seal fur back on their winter hats!!!!!

http://www.change.org/petitions/adopt-seal-as-the-winter-headdress-...

Comment by Jeff Wish on May 16, 2012 at 7:28pm

How many did you get? in C.B

Comment by Jason Sharpe on May 15, 2012 at 9:34pm

lots of seals  in conception bay

 

Comment by David on April 29, 2012 at 2:02am

not sure by, just seen it on VOCM and thought id share it here

Comment by Jeff Wish on April 28, 2012 at 11:52pm

Is that the only session in NL

Comment by David on April 28, 2012 at 10:40am

DFO will be holding a seal information session next week for people interested in obtaining personal-use seal licenses. The session will include training in the three-step process of ensuring humane death. 

Anyone wishing to obtain a license must have proof of age, a firearms safety/hunter education certificate and proof they have attended the information session. 

The session is scheduled for Monday, at the St. Anthony-area Grenfell Heritage Hotel beginning at 7:30pm.

Comment by tyler pitcher on April 25, 2012 at 10:09am

were are they going to have the seal course when they get enought people

 

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