NR-HQ-00-14E

Dhaliwal announces formation of eminent Panel on Seal Management

April 11, 2000

OTTAWA -- The Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, today announced the formation of an independent panel to evaluate the current state of scientific knowledge of the seal population in Atlantic Canada and to provide advice on a long-term strategy for its management. Dr. Ian Mclaren of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia will chair the panel.

"I am pleased that one of Canada’s top experts on marine mammals and science has agreed to chair the panel on seal management," said Minister Dhaliwal. "The work of this panel will add valuable knowledge to the many collaborative initiatives presently underway at DFO to actively manage the Canadian seal population."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is fulfilling a commitment to create a panel on seal management in its November 1999 response to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ report on seals. The panel will analyze the Committee’s findings and provide recommendations on seal management strategies, including the evaluation of experimental harvests and experimental seal exclusion zones.

The mandate of the Panel will include the development of a harvesting plan for seal populations over a five-year period, taking into consideration:

• scientific methodologies for estimating seal populations;
• scientific methodologies for estimating the total magnitude of the hunt;
• the current state of knowledge about the diet of seals and the impact of seal consumption on cod and other commercial fish stocks; and,
• the optimum size of the harp seal population in terms of its interaction with the ecosystem and commercial fish stocks.

Three experts in the science and management field will join Dr. Mclaren to complete the membership on the panel. Names will be announced following the finalization of their participation in the next few weeks.

The Seal Panel is expected to issue its report by the fall of 2000, in order for DFO to consider its advice in the development of the seals management plan for 2001.