Embassy Magazine (CAN)
Activists Claim Huge Victory with Seafood Boycott
by Jeff Davis PRINT SMALL LARGE
Mar. 18, 2009
http://www.embassymag.ca:80/page/view/seafood_boycott-3-18-2009

In an effort to bring an end to Canada's commercial seal hunt,
American animal rights activists have instituted a boycott on Canadian
seafood products they claim has cost the Canadian economy hundreds of
millions of dollars since 2005.

But provincial and federal officials, and a handful of third-party
studies, reject this claim, accusing the boycotters of intentionally
inflating their numbers and misleading the public.

The boycott is organized by the Humane Society of the United States,
which claims more than 500,000 individuals and over 5,000 businesses
across the United States have stopped purchasing Canadian seafood
products as part of the action.

Megan Waters, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant hired by the HSUS to
compile trade statistics on the boycott, said it "was an option of
last resort after a decade of negotiations [with the Canadian
Department of Fisheries and Oceans] had been tried and failed."

"We met with [DFO] officials who said the only way they would end the
seal hunt was if the fishing industry indicated it wanted to see the
seal hunt end," said Ms. Waters, a former director of Canadian affairs
at the U.S. Trade Representative during the Clinton administration.

As a result, Ms. Waters said, the boycott aims to exert pressure
directly on sealers themselves.

"Faced with that, the Humane Society set about putting into place a
strategy to provide appropriate motivation to encourage Canada's seal
hunters to focus on commercial fishing and give up the seal hunt," she
said.

Ms. Waters said sealing accounts for less than five per cent of total
fishing revenues in Newfoundland, and that once Newfoundland sealers
realize the toll the seal hunt is taking on overall fish exports
because of the boycott, they will voluntarily ask the government to
halt the hunt.

The boycott, an element of the HSUS's broader ProtectSeals Campaign,
began in March 2005. Participating individuals sign a pledge stating
they will not buy seafood products produced in Canada—such as snow
crabs, cod, scallops, and shrimp—until Canada ends its commercial seal
hunt for good.

Restaurants and grocery stores, meanwhile, can join by signing a
pledge to abstain from purchasing all seafood from Canada, all seafood
from seal-hunting provinces, all snow crabs from Canada or any other
combination of seafood items they wish.

Boycott organizers chose to focus on snow crab in particular because
it is among Newfoundland's most lucrative exports to the United
States. The HSUS claims that since 2005, the total value of lost
Canadian snow crab exports to the U.S. amounts to over $750 million.

Since the boycott came into effect, the HSUS claims, total export
values of seafood from Newfoundland to the U.S. have dropped by 51 per
cent. At the same time, it claims Newfoundland's total exports to the
U.S. from all other industries, excluding energy, rose by 29 per cent.

The HSUS also claims that over this same period, Newfoundland's total
fish export value to all other countries has dropped just five per
cent.

Ms. Waters told Embassy all her statistics have been derived from DFO
and Industry Canada studies and trade data.

Dubious Claims?

But while the Humane Society is confident Newfoundland fishermen are
feeling the pain inflicted by the boycott, the government of
Newfoundland begs to differ.

"The effect has been no effect, as far as we can determine,"
Newfoundland Fisheries Minister Tom Hedderson told Embassy Tuesday.
"As far as we are concerned, our efforts to export our food products
across the world have been quite successful."

Mr. Hedderson said Newfoundland consistently sends about 40 per cent
of its fish exports to the United States, and that provincial
government research can find no evidence of significant boycott
effects.

Similar comment came from the federal government.

DFO officials, as well as diplomats like Fisheries Conservation
Ambassador Loyola Sullivan, try to counteract HSUS by engaging with
participating firms and providing "correct information" on the hunt
and its sustainability, officials said the effect of the boycott is
"almost negligible."

"And it's not just DFO that's saying this is very much wishful
thinking on the part of the HSUS. It hasn't had any measurable
effect," said Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans.

Mr. Jenkins provided to Embassy a DFO memorandum on the effect of the
boycott on snow crab exports, which concludes: "The HSUS' claims about
the success of the boycott are much inflated at best, but more likely
they are simply deceiving and misleading."

The memo says changes in snow crab prices and export values are due to
"normal oscillations of the market," and are in keeping with broader
trends in the global seafood trade. It claims the boycott began at a
time of spiking exports, and that the HSUS's "calculation inherently
assumes that, without a boycott, exports would have remained at an
historic high."

Mr. Jenkins also pointed to research done into the effect of the ban
by third parties, including U.S. seafood industry analyst John
Sackton, the editor and publisher of Seafood.com.

In an article dated March 2008, Mr. Sackton attacks the Humane
Society's claims of success. He notes that HSUS's claims centre around
the value of Newfoundland seafood exports declining by 44 per cent
between 2004 and 2007. But during this same time, he said, the value
of the U.S. dollar declined by 33 per cent.

"It seems like the Humane Society is claiming credit for devaluing the
U.S. dollar," Mr. Sackton writes, going on to accuse the HSUS of
intentionally misrepresenting the effects of the boycott.

"If a campaign cannot face the truth, but instead claims things that
are demonstrably false, it is a sign of bad faith, and means that the
group is trying to mislead the public," he writes.

The HSUS ban was also dealt a blow by the U.S. non-profit Center for
Consumer Freedom in March 2006, when it released a survey examining
the Humane Society's claims.

After interviewing staff from 87 companies the HSUS claimed was
participating in the ban, they found that of those surveyed, 31
percent were still serving Canadian seafood, while another 47 per cent
never served Canadian seafood to begin with.

"This is a huge blunder for the Humane Society of the United States,"
said Center for Consumer Freedom director of research David Martosko.
"HSUS is either intentionally deceitful or monumentally incompetent.
Neither is good news for the millions of people who send HSUS money
every year. We were shocked at how easy it was to find major problems
with this fake boycott campaign."

John Grandy, the HSUS's senior vice-president for wildlife and habitat
protection, stridently rejected the claims of both Mr. Sackton and the
Center for Consumer Freedom, saying his market research is watertight
and honest.

He did acknowledge, however, that the Center for Consumer Freedom's
survey caused the boycott to implement stricter participation rules,
including getting every supporting business to "sign on the dotted
line."

As for the Center for Consumer Freedom, Mr. Grandy accused it of being
"a front group for liquor, tobacco and restaurants and food
businesses."

"Somebody is paying them to discredit us," he said. "There's been a
lot of speculation in our quarters whether they're being paid by the
Government of Canada."

jdavis@embassymag.ca

The Record (CAN)
Anti-sealing activists set to monitor hunt's opening in Gulf of St. Lawrence
March 22, 2009
The Canadian Press
http://news.therecord.com/article/507756

CAP-AUX-MEULES, Que. - The annual East Coast seal hunt is set to get
underway Monday despite the continuing outcry of animal rights
activists and an international effort to ban imported seal products.

The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the hunt would
start in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence around Quebec's Iles de la
Madeleine.

Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International Canada,
said the "the eyes of the world are on the Canadian seal hunt" and her
group would be there to monitor the activities.

"It's something we do every year. We come up here and we document what
happens, but it never gets any easier," Aldworth said in an interview
Sunday.

"The fact that the world community is moving away from commercial seal
slaughter . . . I think spells very clearly the end of the commercial
seal hunt in Canada. But the fact is, the hunt is going on this year."

The start of the hunt comes three weeks after a European Parliament
committee endorsed a bill that would impose a ban on the import of
seal products to the 27-member union.

The same bill granted an exemption to Canada's Inuit to continue to
trade seal products "for cultural, educational or ceremonial
purposes."

In order to become law, the bill must be approved by the entire EU
assembly and EU governments.

The committee's decision came despite an intense lobbying effort by
Canadian politicians looking to convince the European body that the
commercial seal hunt is humane.

Sheryl Fink, a researcher for the International Fund for Animal
Welfare, said the move toward a ban is a sign the public's appetite
for the seal hunt is waning.

"We are optimistic that we are starting to see a bit of change," said
Fink, whose group also plans to monitor the hunt.

"I do think the writing's on the wall."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has set a quota of 280,000 harp
seals for this year - an increase of 5,000 over last year.

Only about 30 per cent of the quota will be taken in the gulf, while
the rest will go to the major hunt off Newfoundland's northern coast,
known as the Front.

The department has also set a quota of 50,000 for grey seals and 8,200
for hooded seals this year.

Roger Simon, the department's area director for the Iles de la
Madeleine, said ice carrying many seals has been pushed to shore along
the cluster of islands, making them accessible to hunters on land.

"The conditions were very good this year as far as good ice
conditions, but with so much westerly wind, half the seal herd has
already blown out of the gulf and the other half (is) basically
beached here," he said.

"There are many more (seals) accessible closer to shore this year."

Some sealers might choose to hold off on heading out in their boats
until the wind changes direction and the heavy ice breaks up along the
shore, added Simon.

Meanwhile, the sealers' association on the Iles de la Madeleine
planned a rally in Cap-aux-Meules, Que., on Sunday to mark the opening
of the 2009 hunting season.

The association also planned to commemorate sailors and sealers who've
died, including the four sealers who were killed in the sinking of the
L'Acadien II last March 29.

The small boat capsized off Cape Breton while under tow by a coast
guard icebreaker.

Canadian Press
Ottawa sets 338,200-animal quota for this year's East Coast seal hunt
March 20, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOod3hcYEs8CDXBZ2zPAnuQznzcQ

HALIFAX, N.S. — Hunters will be allowed to kill 338,200 animals when
the annual East Coast seal hunt gets underway soon - an increase of
55,000 animals from last year's quota.

Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced the quota in a short
news release late Friday. Shea said the decision on the size of this
year's quota was made with "the advice of scientists to ensure the
seal population is maintained."

"Canada is a world leader in the management of the seal hunt," she
said. "Fishery officers will be closely monitoring this year's hunt to
ensure compliance with the regulations and licence conditions, and
they will take enforcement action when necessary."

Sheryl Fink, a researcher for the International Fund for Animal
Welfare, said in an email that the environmental group was upset with
the increased quota.

She said the 280,000-animal quota for harp seals is "10,000 higher
than what they have publicly said is within their management plan, so
obviously we're furious."

Fink also criticized the government for waiting "until 7:20 on a
Friday" to release the quota.

The federal Fisheries Department estimates the size of the harp, grey
and hooded seal herds on Canada's East Coast at about 6.4 million
animals.

This year's total quota includes 50,000 grey seals and 8,200 hooded seals.

Last year's total quota was 283,200 seals but fewer than that were killed.

About 70 per cent of this year's quota is for the so-called Front, an
area east of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The increased quota came just weeks after a European Parliament
committee endorsed a bill that could impose a tight ban on the import
of all seal products to the European Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also recently banned the seal hunt in
that country, calling it a "bloody trade."

Shea said Ottawa would "continue to defend the rights of Canadian
sealers to provide a livelihood for their families through our lawful,
sustainable and humane hunt."

"We are extremely disappointed that the European Parliament has called
for a disruption of the trade of seal products and our position
remains that any ban on a humanely conducted hunt, such as Canada's,
is completely without merit," she said in the release.