VOLUME I Brief Oepartment of Fisheries and Oceans Brief
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Oepartment of Fisheries and Oceans Brief Submitted to The Royal Commission on Seals and the Sealing Industry in Canada VOLUME I VOLUME I Brief VOLUMES II-V Appendices May 1985 016989 TABLE or CONTENTS Page INTRIDUCTION ............ ............................... 1 SECTION 1 - THE ATLANTIC SEAL HUNT 1.1 General Description •••••••...•••••••••..••.. 2 1.2 Management of the Seal Hunt ••••••••••••••••• 3 1.2.1 Policy.......... ..... ... .... ..... 3 1.2_.2 The Process .••••••••••••.•...••.••••• 4 1.2.3 Population Assessment - harp seals.... 6 1.2.4 Management Measures - harp seals ••••• 7 1.2.5 PopUlation Assessments - hooded seals. 12 1.2.6 Management Measures - hooded seals ••• 15 1.3 Humane Killing Issue ...••.•.•.•......•..•.•• 18 1.4 The Committee on Seals and Sealing •••••••••• 19 1.5 Regulations.. .. 20 1.6 Sealer Training ...... ...................... 35 1.7 Public Information ............................... 35 1.8 Access to the Seal Hunt ....... 10 .................. .. 36 1.9 The Canada/Norway Sealing Commission ••••••• 39 1.10 International Issues ..•.•....•..•....•.••... 40 1.10.1 Import Bans ..................................... 40 1 .10.2 EEC Ban ........................................ 42 1.10.3 Fish Boycott Campaign •••••••••••••••• 45 1.10.4 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species •••••••••••• 47 -i- TABLE IF CONTENTS (Continued) Page 1 .11 Economics .......................... ""........................................ 50 1 .11 .. 1 History ............................................................ 50 1.11.2 Economic Aspects - Primary Industry.. 53 1.11.3 Economic Aspects - Secondary Industry. 58 1.11.4 Seal Pelt Exports •••••••••••••••••••• 63 1.11.5 Secondary Processing 65 1.11.6 Economic Impact •.....••.••..........• 67 1.11.7 Manufacture of Sealskin Products ••••• 69 1.12 Marketing ...................................................................... 70 1.12.1 The Market for Seal Fur and Leather.. 70 1.12.2 Market Characteristics ••••••••••••••• 71 1.12.3 Recent Developments •••••••••••••••••• 72 1.12.4 Current Market Conditions •••••••••••• 73 1.12.5 Market Outlook .............................................. 74 SECTION 2 - GREY AND HARBOUR SEALS •••••••••••••••••• 76 2.1 Grey Seal Popu~ation ••.••••••••••••.•••••• 76 2.2 Harbour Seal Population ••••••••••••••••••• 77 2.3 Seals Competing with Man for Food ••••••••• 77 2.4 Seal worm in Seals ...•..••..•...••.••••.••• 78 2.5 Seal worm in Fish ............ ".................................... .. 78 2.6 Bounty Program ..................................................... .. 81 2.7 Cull Program .............. .. .......................................... .. 82 2.8 Research Activities ••...•••••.........•..• 83 -ii- TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page SECTION 3 - PACIFIC COAST SEALS •••••••••••••••••••••• 86 . 3".1 Harbour Seal .............. "................................................. 86 J.2 Northern Elephant Seal .......................................... .. 87 3.3 Northern fur Seal ...................................................... 81 3.4 Steller Sea Lion ...................................................... .. 89 3.5 California Sea Lion .................................................. 90 SECTION 4 - SEALS AND SEALING IN CANADA'S NORTHERN AND ARCTIC REGIONS 91 4.1 Introduction.. .... ...... .. .. ...... .. ...... ...... .. .. .. ...... .. .. .. .. .. ...... 91 4.2 Distribution and Abundance of Arctic and Northern Seals •••••••••••••••••••••.••••• 93 4 .. 2 .. 1 Ringed Seal .................................................... 94 4.2.2 Harp Seal........................................................ 96 4.2.3 Bearded Seal......................... 97 4.2.4 Harbour and Hooded Seal.............. 97 4.3 Importance of Seals and Sealing in the North. 99 4.3.1 Seal Harvest ................................................ 99 4.3.2 Commercial Sealing .•.••••.•.......•.. 100 4.3.3 Domestic Use of Seals .•.••••••••••••• 103 SECTION 5 - HARP SEAL ENERGETICS, FOOD CONSUMPTION AND INTERACTIONS WITH FISHERIES ••.••• 112 5.1 Introduction. •• • . ••. .. • •• •• . • . ... 112 5.2 Feeding and Migration ••••.••.•••.•..•.•••••• 112 5.3 Effects of Increase in Population on the Ene rgy 8udget .•••..•....•.•.•••.•.... 113 5.4 Summary... ..•.•...•.......• ..•.. .•..•....... 114 REfERENCES APPENDICES • (see Volumes II-V) -iii- -1- INTRODUCTION: The Department of Fisheries · and Oceans of Canada is responsible for a wide range of activities which include fisheries management and research in coastal and inland waters; fisheries economic. development and marketing; international fisheries negotiBt.ions; oceanographic research; hydrographic surveying and charting; and the development and administration of fishing and recreational harbours. The main legislative base for the Department is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Act, which established the Department in April 1979; and the Fisheries Act, which was enacted in 1867 in accordance with the responsibility for "sea-coast and inland fisheries" placed on the Federal Government by Section 91( 1 Z) of the Constitution Act, 1867. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible to Parliament for administration of the laws relevant to Canada's fisheries, including the Seal Protection Regulations (C.R.C. 1978 c833 and amendments thereto) made under the Fisheries Act. This brief is intended to provide the Commission with information related to seals and sealing in Canadian waters. Emphasis had been placed on the activities of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans with respect to the management of these resources. Detailed discussion and background on some aspects of seals and sealing, such as the biology of seals, and the early history of the seal fisheries, have not been included in this brief as this information is available in publications produced elsewhere. Although the major portion of the material presented herein relates to the annual hunt for harp and hooded seals that takes place off the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland (the Front) and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, sections dealing with grey seals, seals on the Pacific coast, and the harvesting of seals in the Arctic, are also included. As the brief represents a compilation of material for examination by the Commission, rather than a defence of the Department's past policies and actions, we have attempted, as far as possible, to present factual information rather than interpretation. -2- SECTION 1 - THE ATLANTIC SEAL HUNT General Description The annual hunt for harp and hooded seals takes place off the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland (the Front) and in the Gulf. of St. Lawrence, principally around. the Magdalen Islands. The hunt, which has focused to a greater . extent on harp seals because of easieI' accessibility and greater abundance, involves licenced "landsmen" who go sealing on . foot or from small open boats or long!iners and, except for the 1984 arid · 1985 hUnts, offshore sealers operating from large vessels built to withstand heavy ice. In addition, and an a much smaller scale, there has been a hunt for harp seals on the Upper North Shore of the St. Lawrence, centered at Les Escoumins and Godbout and net fisheries along the Lower North Shore and the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. Offshore sealing began in Newfoundland during the early 1800's and developed rapidly from about 80,000 pelts in 1805 to more than 280,000 in 1819; from 1830-1839 the average Newfoundland take exceeded 450,000 pelts including a peak catch of 687,000 in 1831. The average harvest remained around 450,00 pelts until the 1860's when it dropped to about 310,000 pelts, remaining around that level until World War I. From 1920-1939 the Newfoundland hunt produced an average of 150,000 pelts declining to about 35,000 during World War II. The above figures refer only to the catch of Newfoundland vessels and as such do not include seals taken by landsmen in the Gulf nor those taken by aboriginals in Northern Canada and Labrador. In 1946 Norway re-entered the fishery after making small catches in 1938 and 1939. Total harvest from the Gulf and Front rose from negligible levels during World War II to an average of 283,000 pelts in 1951-1960, and 280,000 during 1961-1970, peaking at more than 400,000 in both 1951 and 1956. During the 1970's quota regulations reduced the average take to 150,000 animals. Previous to the 1930's commmercial sealing was for oil and leather, which resulted in a concentration of hunting effort on the fat whitecoats. Refinements of processing techniques for furs changed the emphasis on pelt preferences to some extent, resulting in an increased proportion of bedlammers and adults in the catches during the 1950's and 1960's. Subsequently, regulations protecting whelping females and shortened hunting seasons reversed this trend such that, until 1983, the bulk of -3- the harvest of harp and hooded seals consisted of whitecoats (harp seal pups 3 to 10 days old, before their first moult) and bluebacks (hooded seal pups up to 1 year old). Due to lack of markets, there has been no commercial whitecoat or blueback harvest since 1982 and the number of large vessels participating in the hunt has declined from eight in 1982 to three in 1983 and none .in 1984 or 1985. Norwegian large vessels have not participated since 1982. Traditionally, the net fisheries on the Qu~bec North Shore, Labrador end Newfoundland have, for a number of communities, provided the major means to capture seals during their annual migrations. Recent trends, however, indicate