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FACTS ABOUT SEALS - 2001
- 2001 Seal Management Measures
- Scientific Initiatives
- Greenland Harvest
- Seal Predation on Cod
- Struck and Lost
- Seal Populations (Harp and Hooded)
- 2000 Canadian Harvest Levels - Harp and Hooded Seals
- Economic Benefits
- Human Harvesting
- Enforcement/Monitoring
- Harvesting of Young Seals, Especially Whitecoats, and Bluebacks
2001 SEAL MANAGEMENT MEASURES
Harp Seals:
- For the 2001 sealing season, the total allowable catch for harp seals in Canada remained at the 1997-2000 level of 275,000. The hunting of harp seal pups (whitecoats) is prohibited.
- The most recent harp seal population estimate, based on an extensive survey conducted in 1999, places the population at around 5.2 million seals. The harp seal population has remained steady at this level since 1996, its highest levels since the 1970s when it was at its lowest level of just under 2 million animals.
- 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.
- To ensure that the future management of seals is based on the best possible science and to ensure a balanced perspective on seal harvesting, an Eminent Panel on Seal Management was established. The Panel is studying the current state of scientific knowledge and will provide advice on long-term strategies for the management of the seal population in Atlantic Canada in time for the 2002 seal harvest.
Hooded and Grey Seals:
- For the 2001 sealing season, the total allowable catch for hooded seals remained at the 1998-2000 level of 10,000 animals.
- The hunting of hooded seal pups (bluebacks) is prohibited.
- A small harvest of grey seals will be allowed in areas other than Sable Island.
SCIENTIFIC INITIATIVES
- The most recent harp seal population estimate, based on an extensive survey conducted in 1999, places the population at around 5.2 million seals. This indicates that the seal population has remained steady at this level since 1996. In the 1970s, the harp seal population was just under 2 million 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 75,000 tonnes of cod off Atlantic Canada.
- In May 2000, the Minister appointed a Panel of eminent persons to provide advice on a long-term strategy for the management of seal populations. The Panel, which will provide its recommendations to the Minister in 2001, is examining the state of science on seals, including methodologies for estimating populations and the magnitude of the hunt, as well as the impact of seals on commercial fish stocks such as cod.
- In 2001, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will continue to conduct important scientific initiatives related to increasing the understanding of abundance, distribution and potential impact of seals on fish stocks.
- The current scientific analyses conducted by DFO scientists incorporate reported catches in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic along with the commercial harvest figures. It also includes estimates of the number of seals killed but not recovered (referred to as "struck and lost") and bycatch in the Newfoundland lumpfish fishery.
- In 2000, the National Marine Mammal Peer Review Committee reviewed the population trajectories for Northwest Atlantic harp seals. For 2000, the replacement yield for harp seals was estimated to be in the order of 500,000 which is close to the current level of removals.
GREENLAND HARVEST
- Canada and Greenland hunt harp and hooded seals from the same populations. 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 Satellite 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 80,000 seals were taken. The Greenland harvest in 1999 has been estimated at approximately 100,000 animals.
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. Predation by harbour and hooded seals has also been estimated. However, among them, harp seals accounted for the largest amount of consumption, followed by hooded and grey seals.
- Comprehensive estimates indicated that in 1996 harp seals consumed some 3 million 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.
- The three major species consumed by harp seals are:
- Capelin (1 million tonnes);
- Sand lance (350,000 tonnes); and
- Arctic cod (177,000 tonnes).
- The most recent estimates conducted in 1999 indicate that harp seals consume some 75,000 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. New estimates are expected to be available in 2001.
- 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:
- The harp seal population increased steadily since the early 1970s, when it was just under 2 million, to approximately 5.2 million by 1996. It has remained at this level since then.
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.
2000 CANADIAN HARVEST LEVELS-HARP AND HOODED SEALS
Harp seals:
- The total allowable catch for 2000 was 275,000 animals but, due to poor markets and poor weather conditions, sealers stopped harvesting before the 2000 quota was reached. Harp seal catches amounted to only 92,000, or 33% of the TAC.
Hooded Seals:
- The total allowable catch for hooded seals is 10,000 animals. Only 10 hooded seals were taken in the 2000 hunt, also due to poor markets and bad weather conditions.
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.
- Sealing and fishing have been time-honoured traditions that allowed people to provide for their families through knowledge of the marine environment and hard work. 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, fuel and clothing for hundreds of years. Today the seal hunt is of importance to aboriginal peoples for food, social and ceremonial purposes.
HUMAN HARVESTING
- 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 killed as quickly as possible to minimize their suffering.
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada is reviewing the regulations governing the seal hunt, the Marine Mammal Regulations. These regulations include provisions to ensure that the hunt is conducted in an even more humane manner.
- 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.
- 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.
ENFORCEMENT/MONITORING
- DFO's enforcement of sealing regulations is thorough and comprehensive. Regulations and policies stipulate hunting seasons, quotas, vessel size, methods of dispatch, as well as instruction and training of seal hunters.
- 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 regulations and licence conditions.
- 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
- Last year, the department imposed new conditions on commercial sealing licences to 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. These conditions will again be imposed in 2001.
- The federal government has appealed the decision striking down section 27 to 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 to three weeks after birth.
