 |
||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||||||
FACTS ABOUT SEALS - 2000
- 2000 Seal Management Measures
- Cruelty
- Scientific Initiatives
- Economic Benefits
- Greenland Harvest
- Enforcement/Monitoring
- Seal Predation on Cod
- Harvesting of Young Seals, Especially Whitecoats, and Bluebacks
- Struck and Lost
- Seal Populations (Harp and Hooded)
- 1999 Canadian Harvest Levels - Harp and Hooded Seals
2000 SEAL MANAGEMENT MEASURES
Harp Seals:
- For the 2000 sealing season, the total allowable catch for harp seals remained at last year's level of 275,000. The hunting of harp seal pups (whitecoats) is prohibited.
- The prudent course is to hold steady at a harvest level that clearly poses no immediate threat to the viability of the harp seal herd.
- In the early 1970s the harp seal population was about 2 million animals. It is now in the order of 5 million animals.
- A survey was carried out in March 1999 to estimate the number of harp seals born off Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The results will be used to estimate the total population of harp seals in the Northwest Atlantic and will be available in the spring of 2000.
- The harp seal herd is considered healthy and abundant - in no way are seals an endangered species. The herd will not be threatened by this year's harvest.
- In 2000, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will continue to conduct important scientific initiatives related to increasing the understanding of abundance, distribution and potential impact of seals on fish stocks.
Hooded and Grey Seals:
- For the 2000 sealing season, the total allowable catch for hooded seals remained at 10,000 animals. The hunting of hooded seal pups (bluebacks) is prohibited
- The harvest of a few hundred grey seals will be allowed in areas other than Sable Island.
- To provide up-to-date population estimates, an aerial survey of grey seals will be undertaken in 2000.
- In addition to seal pup surveys and other scientific initiatives, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is reviewing the regulations governing the seal hunt, the Marine Mammal Regulations. These regulations include provisions to ensure that the hunt is conducted in a humane manner.
SCIENTIFIC INITIATIVES
- In February 1999, the National Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee met to peer review the updated population estimates based on new data and information on catches in Greenland and Canada and proportion of animals struck and lost.
- The meeting also considered new replacement yield estimates and methodology. The replacement yield is the number of animals that can be taken in a given year without reducing the total population for the next year. Scientists from DFO and outside the department participated in this meeting to provide a full and open peer review.
- The meeting concluded that the abundance of seals remained high at around 5 million animals and had been stable or declining slightly in the past several years. The replacement yield was estimated at around 400,000 animals.
- Groundfish stock assessment meetings in March 1999 considered estimates of seal consumption of cod and incorporated them into stock assessments where possible. The current estimate is that harp seals consume some 90,000 tonnes of cod off Atlantic Canada.
- DFO conducted an aerial survey of harp seal pup production in 1999, and the results, along with the most recent data on harvests, struck and lost, and biological factors, will be used to provide a new assessment of harp seal abundance and replacement yield in 2000. New information on animals struck and lost was obtained during the 1999 hunt.
- On November 5, 1999, the Minister responded to recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. He agreed to establish a panel of eminent persons to provide advice on long-term harvesting and management strategies for seal populations.
- The panel will augment, not replace, the many collaborative initiatives the Department undertakes with those who have important contributions to make to the scientific study and management of seal populations.
GREENLAND HARVEST
- Canada and Greenland hunt seals from the same herd. The Canadian and Greenland governments have been exchanging information on their respective hunts and have agreed to continue such exchanges with the intent of verifying harvest activities and strengthening conservation. For example, discussions are underway with Greenland scientists on a possible joint tagging program to better define movements and stock boundaries.
- The annual catch of harp seals in Greenland has been increasing in recent years. The Greenland government has reported that in 1998, approximately 65,000 seals were taken.
- In 1999, the National Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee reviewed the population trajectories for Northwest Atlantic harp seals. Based upon the revised estimates of catches in Greenland and catches in Canada, the 1999 replacement yield for harp seals was estimated to be in the order of 400,000 which is close to the current level of catches.
SEAL PREDATION ON COD
- Studies of predation by seals on fish in Atlantic Canada have focussed on the two most abundant seal species: harp seals and grey seals. Research on predation by hooded seals has also been undertaken.
- Comprehensive estimates indicated that in 1996 harp seals consumed some 3 millions tonnes of food in the Canadian Atlantic, whereas grey seals consumed some 314,000 tonnes. A high portion of the diet of both species was fish, with some invertebrate prey as well. The vast majority of fish prey were small forage fish. Commercial species made up only a small portion of their diet.
- In 1996, the main species consumed by harp seals were:
- Capelin (1 million tonnes)
- Sand lance (350,000 tonnes)
- Arctic cod (177,000 tonnes); and
- Flatfishes, such as Greenland Halibut, and redfish (185,000 tonnes combined).
- The most recent estimates conducted in 1999 indicate that harp seals consume some 90,000 tonnes of Atlantic cod in the Canadian Atlantic. The estimates of Atlantic cod consumption by harp seals in the waters off Newfoundland are lower than the previous estimates. The primary reason for this change was improved information on the diet and seasonal movements of harp seals.
- For grey seals the main prey species was sandlance (133,000 tonnes). Grey seals also consumed an estimated 55,000 tonnes of Atlantic cod.
STRUCK AND LOST
- In any harvest, animals may be killed but not recovered and therefore not included in the reported landings. This is referred to as "struck and lost".
- Fisheries and Oceans' scientists have been carrying out studies designed to estimate the amount of struck and lost that occurs. Preliminary results were presented to the Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee in February 1999. The proportion of seals lost appears to be negligible for young animals killed by clubbing and relatively low for beater seals killed on the ice. However, a significant proportion of older seals shot in the water may be lost.
- The vast majority of the Canadian harvest takes place on the ice, therefore struck and lost rates for these animals is very low.
- The current scientific analyses conducted by DFO scientists incorporates reported catches in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic along with the commercial harvest figures and accounts for an amount of additional mortality. This mortality is from all sources including struck and lost, by-catch, and other forms of natural mortality such as starvation.
- Incorporating estimates of the number of seals struck and lost explicitly will improve the accuracy of the abundance estimates. This is especially true in times when the size of the harvest changes quickly, such as since 1996.
SEAL POPULATIONS (HARP AND HOODED)
Harp Seals:
- A survey to estimate the number of harp seal pups born off Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was carried out in March 1999. The results of this survey will enable the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to develop a new, more current estimate of the abundance of harp seals in the Northwest Atlantic.
- Based on the results of a survey conducted in 1994, the harp seal population is estimated to be approximately 5 million and stable or declining slowly. The results of the most recent survey, which should be available in the spring of 2000, will allow us to determine the current size of the population.
- The harp seal population increased steadily since the early 1970s, when it was just under 2 million, to approximately 5 million by 1996.
- The results of the March 1999 harp seal population survey will be subjected to international scientific peer review.
- The population survey will provide the Department of Fisheries and Oceans with new scientific data that will be used to determine the level of future harvests.
Hooded Seals:
- A 1990 study estimated the hooded seal population was 460,000.
- Surveys conducted in 1990 and 1991 estimated that 80,000 pups were born in the Front and 2,000 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- Hooded seals normally make up only a minor part of the commercial and personal use hunts.
1999 CANADIAN HARVEST LEVELS-HARP AND HOODED SEALS
Harp seals:
- The TAC for 1999 was 275,000 but, due to poor markets, sealers stopped harvesting before the 1999 quota of 275,000 was reached. Harp seal catches amounted to 241,552.
Hooded Seals:
- The total allowable catch for hooded seals is 10,000 animals. Approximately 200 hooded seals were taken in the 1999 hunt, also due to poor markets.
CRUELTY
- The killing of any animals, whether they are domesticated or wild, is never pleasant to watch.
- Canada's regulations are designed to ensure that seals are dispatched as quickly as possible to minimize their suffering.
- Before sealers can qualify for a professional licence, they must obtain an assistant licence and work under the supervision of a professional sealer for two years.
- Seal hunting methods have been studied and approved by the Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing. The Commission found that the methods used in hunting seals compare favourably to those used to dispatch any other wild or domestic animal. These methods are designed to kill the animal quickly, thus minimizing pain and psychological distress.
- DFO is now conducting a regulatory review that will look at possible changes to the present sealing regulations.
- Society makes use of many different animals for food and clothing. In this sense, the harvesting of seals is not fundamentally different from the exploitation of livestock.
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
- The seal hunt provides valuable income to about 12,000 sealers and their families in eastern Canada, particularly in some Newfoundland communities that lack many employment opportunities.
- The seal hunt helps isolated towns and villages in the winter season when there are few economic alternatives. These are communities that have been hard hit by the downturn in the groundfish industry.
- Aboriginal peoples have hunted seals for food and clothing for hundreds of years. Today the seal hunt is of importance to aboriginal peoples for food, social and ceremonial purposes.
ENFORCEMENT/MONITORING
- DFO's enforcement of sealing regulations is thorough and comprehensive.
- Enforcement objectives are to seek overall compliance with the Marine Mammal Regulations. Fishery officers will be monitoring catches, ensuring humane harvesting practices, and enforcing the prohibition on harvesting seal pups (whitecoats and bluebacks).
- Fishery Officers conduct surveillance of the seal harvest by means of aerial patrols, surface (vessel) patrols, dockside inspections of vessels at landing sites and inspections at buying/processing facilities.
- Observers are also deployed on the ice and on some vessels to monitor compliance with regulations.
- The RCMP and provincial police are also available when situations arise requiring their assistance.
- An enforcement operational plan is created for each harvesting season. The plan is reviewed on an on-going basis during the harvest and enforcement resources may be re-directed from other areas/fisheries if the need arises.
HARVESTING OF YOUNG SEALS, ESPECIALLY WHITECOATS, BLUEBACKS
- For the year 2000 hunt, the department imposed new conditions for commercial sealing licences in Atlantic Canada that prohibit the taking of harp seal pups (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks). The conditions have become necessary because of a ruling by the Newfoundland Court of Appeal that struck down as unconstitutional section 27 of the Marine Mammal Regulations, which prohibits the buying or selling of blueback and whitecoat seal pelts.
- As a result of this decision, section 27 cannot be enforced in Newfoundland. The federal government is appealing the decision in the Supreme Court of Canada.
- A prohibition against hunting bluebacks and whitecoats has always been in place for personal use sealing licences.
- Adult harp and hooded seals cannot be harvested when they are in whelping patches or breeding grounds.
- Seals mature very quickly. For example, young harp seals are independent and completely self-reliant two or three weeks after birth.
