Cruel hunting methods employed by Canada has prompted the European Union to announce that it will implement measures to ban imports of Canadian blubber, meat and pelts by as early as 2009. If the legislation passes, it will deal a devastating blow to the Canadian industry, as fishermen across the Atlantic coast rely heavily on hunting seals as a source of income. The new Fisheries Ministry announced that authorities did not plan to change anything in Canadian fishing practices, and that it would continue sealing as usual.
"I think in a way it's avoiding the issue. This is obviously a fisheries minister who doesn't want to change the status quo. The problem is that the environment around the seal hunt is very much changing," argued Humane Society Canadian branch spokeswomen, Rebecca Aldworth, referring to the fact that Gail Shea, the newly-appointed Fisheries Minister, had announced that business would go on as usual. Furthermore, Shea said she was "upset" at the fact that the European Union proposed such a bill.
Though the largest importers of Canadian products are China, Russia and Norway, a ban in the 27 countries currently forming the EU will mean that the fashion industry will have to renounce buying seal pelts. Also, shipping routs will be severely affected, as the EU won't even allow vessels carrying seal products to pass in its water. In order for the legislation to pass – as early as March 2009 – it has to receive the approval of all Union states.
EU officials say that using clubs and spiked instruments to carry on the hunt offer a cruel image of the entire process, and that the animals are put through undue suffering, before being killed. They also add that Europe will only import seal products from nations that are verified for employing more humane hunting practices.
Environmentalists and animal rights activists say that Canadian methods are cruel, inhumane, and that they bring little benefit to the economy. The nation is allowed to kill between 250,000 and 335,000 seals annually, as trends registered over the past 3 years showed. The United States already seized all Canadian seal imports as far back as 1972, which gives the EU further reason to pass its own bill.
