[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 24, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3691-S3692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 84--URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA TO END THE 
                          COMMERCIAL SEAL HUNT

  Mr. LEVIN (for himself and Ms. Collins) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 84

       Whereas the Government of Canada permits an annual 
     commercial hunt for seals in the waters off the east coast of 
     Canada;
       Whereas an international outcry regarding the plight of the 
     seals hunted in Canada resulted in the 1983 ban by the 
     European Union of whitecoat and blueback seal skins and the 
     subsequent collapse of the commercial seal hunt in Canada;
       Whereas the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 
     1361 et seq.) bars the import into the United States of any 
     seal products;
       Whereas, in recent years, the Minister of Fisheries and 
     Oceans of Canada has authorized historically high quotas for 
     harp seals;
       Whereas more than 1,000,000 seals have been killed during 
     the past 4 years;
       Whereas harp seal pups can legally be hunted in Canada as 
     soon as they have begun to molt their white coats, at 
     approximately 12 days of age;
       Whereas 97 percent of the seals killed are pups between 
     just 12 days and 12 weeks of age;
       Whereas, in 2007, an international panel of experts in 
     veterinary medicine and zoology was invited by the Humane 
     Society of the United States to observe the commercial seal 
     slaughter in Canada;
       Whereas the report by the panel noted that sealers failed 
     to comply with sealing regulations in Canada and that 
     officials of the Government of Canada failed to enforce such 
     regulations;
       Whereas the report also concluded that the killing methods 
     permitted during the commercial seal hunt in Canada are 
     inherently inhumane and should be prohibited;
       Whereas many seals are shot in the course of the hunt and 
     escape beneath the ice where they die slowly and are never 
     recovered;
       Whereas such seals are not properly counted in official 
     kill statistics, increasing the likelihood that the actual 
     kill level is far higher than the level that is reported;
       Whereas the few thousand fishermen who participate in the 
     commercial seal hunt in Canada earn, on average, only a tiny 
     fraction of their annual income from killing seals;
       Whereas members of the fishing and sealing industries in 
     Canada continue to justify the seal hunt on the grounds that 
     the seals in the Northwest Atlantic are preventing the 
     recovery of cod stocks, despite the lack of any credible 
     scientific evidence to support this claim;
       Whereas the consensus in the international scientific 
     community is that culling seals will not assist in the 
     recovery of fish stocks and that seals are a vital part of 
     the fragile marine ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic;
       Whereas polling consistently shows that the overwhelming 
     majority of people in Canada oppose the commercial seal hunt;
       Whereas the vast majority of seal products are exported 
     from Canada, and the sealing industry relies on international 
     markets for its products;
       Whereas 10 countries have prohibited trade in seal products 
     in recent years, and the European Union is now considering a 
     prohibition on trade in seal products; and
       Whereas the persistence of this cruel and needless 
     commercial hunt is inconsistent with the well-earned 
     international reputation of Canada: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) urges the Government of Canada to prohibit the 
     commercial hunting of seals; and
       (2) strongly supports an unconditional prohibition by the 
     European Union on trade in seal products.

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, on March 18th, 2009, just weeks before its 
hunting season was scheduled to begin, Russia announced that it would 
ban the hunting and killing of baby seals. Youri Trutnev, Russia's 
Minister of Natural Resources, who was quoted in the New York Times 
last week, graphically depicted the shameful practice, saying: ``The 
bloody sight of the hunting of seals, the slaughter of these 
defenseless animals, which you cannot even call a real hunt, is banned 
in our country, just as well as in most developed countries.''
  In addition, the Internal Markets and Consumer Protection Committee 
(IMCO) of the European Parliament approved a prohibition on trade in 
seal products in the European Union. This measure may now be considered 
by the full European Parliament in the coming months.
  Yet, in Canada, the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals in 
the world continues. According to the Humane Society of the United 
States (HSUS), over one million seals have been killed over the past 
four years. In Canada, seal pups as young as 12 days old can legally be 
killed. The vast majority of seals killed in these hunts are between 12 
days and 12 weeks of age.
  Canada has officially opened another seal hunting season, paving the 
way for hundreds of thousands of baby seals to be killed for their fur 
in the coming weeks, when the harp seal hunt begins in earnest. So 
today I am pleased to be joined by Senator Collins in submitting a 
resolution that urges the Government of Canada to end this senseless 
and inhumane slaughter.
  The U.S. Government has opposed this senseless slaughter, as noted in 
the January 19, 2005, letter from the U.S. Department of State, in 
response to a letter Senator Collins and I wrote to President Bush, 
urging him to raise this issue during his November 30, 2004, visit with 
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that support material be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                          Department of State,

                                 Washington, DC, January 19, 2005.
       Dear Senator Levin: This is in response to your letter to 
     the President of November 24, 2004, regarding Canadian 
     commercial seal hunting. The White House has requested that 
     the Department of State respond. We regret the delay in 
     responding. Unfortunately, this letter was not received in 
     the Department of State until mid-December, well after the 
     referenced meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister 
     Paul Martin of Canada.
       We are aware of Canada's seal hunting activities and of the 
     opposition to it expressed by many Americans. Furthermore, we 
     can assure you that the United States has a long-standing 
     policy opposing the hunting of seals and other marine mammals 
     absent sufficient safeguards and information to ensure that 
     the hunting will not adversely impact the affected marine 
     mammal population or the ecosystem of which it is a part. The 
     United States policy is reflected in the Marine Mammal 
     Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) which generally prohibits, with 
     narrow and specific exceptions, the taking of marine

[[Page S3692]]

     mammals in waters or lands subject to the jurisdiction of the 
     United States and the importation of marine mammals and 
     marine mammal products into the United States.
       The United States has made known to the Government of 
     Canada its objections and the objections of concerned 
     American legislators and citizens to the Canadian commercial 
     seal hunt on numerous occasions over recent years. The United 
     States has also opposed Canada's efforts within the Arctic 
     Council to promote trade in sealskins and other marine mammal 
     products.
       We hope this information is helpful to you. Please do not 
     hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance in this or 
     any other matter.
           Sincerely,
     Nancy Powell,
       (For Paul V. Kelly, Asst. Secretary, Legislative Affairs).
                                  ____


                [From the New York Times, Mar. 19, 2009]

                  Russia to Ban Hunting of Baby Seals

                          (By A.G. Sulzberger)

       Russia announced on Wednesday that it would ban the hunting 
     of baby seals, effectively shutting one of the world's 
     largest hunting grounds in the controversial trade in seal 
     fur.
       The decision is yet another blow to an age-old industry 
     that has been losing a public relations battle in recent 
     years to animal-rights groups, who have gained public support 
     by using stark photographs of harp seal pups less than a 
     month old being clubbed to death on blood-stained ice flows.
       In addition, the European Union is considering a ban of all 
     seal products--similar to one that the United States adopted 
     decades ago--which would eliminate a key trade route and end 
     market for the furs. And even in Canada, where the world's 
     largest seal hunt is scheduled to begin later this month and 
     top leaders vigorously defend the industry, a legislator for 
     the first time introduced a proposal to curtail sealing.
       ``It's highly significant,'' Rebecca Aldworth, director of 
     Humane Society International in Canada, said of the political 
     developments. ``It shows that world opinion is moving away 
     from commercial seal hunting. There's hope on the horizon 
     that this may be the last year that we ever have to witness 
     this cruelty.''
       In Russia, where the number of new pups has dropped sharply 
     in recent years because of the hunts as well as shrinking ice 
     in the White Sea, the government initially announced a ban on 
     the killing of the very youngest and most highly prized 
     seals, known as ``whitecoats.'' The seals shed the white fur 
     in about two weeks, with the resulting silver coat also 
     coveted.
       But the government announced in unsparing language that it 
     intended to extend the ban to include all seals less than a 
     year old. (While adult seals are also hunted in smaller 
     quantities, their coarse, scarred fur is generally not used 
     in clothing.) The move, publicly backed by Prime Minister 
     Vladimir V. Putin and coming just weeks before the hunting 
     season was to begin, could save as many as 35,000 seals, 
     according to a spokesman for the International Fund for 
     Animal Welfare.
       The Associated Press quoted the natural resources minister, 
     Yuri Trutnev, as saying in a statement: ``The bloody sight of 
     the hunting of seals, the slaughter of these defenseless 
     animals, which you cannot even call a real hunt, is banned in 
     our country, just as well as in most developed countries, and 
     this is a serious step to protect the biodiversity of the 
     Russian Federation.''
       Masha Vorontsova, the head of the International Fund for 
     Animal Welfare in Russia and a biologist who has been pushing 
     for a ban since the fall of the Soviet Union, credited an 
     outpouring of public support for ending the hunt. ``It's a 
     fantastic achievement,'' she said.
       In contrast, Gail Shea, Canada's Minister of Fisheries and 
     Oceans, did little to disguise her frustration at moves 
     taking aim at the industry both abroad and at home, which she 
     attributed to ``mistruths and propaganda'' spread by special 
     interest groups.
       ``For some reason the European Union will not recognize 
     what the actual facts are because it's an emotional issue and 
     a political issue,'' she said in an interview.
       Ms. Shea, who earlier flew to Europe to lobby against a 
     European Union ban, warned that such a move could violate 
     international trade law. An industry spokesman said that 
     nearly all Canadian seal products passed through Europe on 
     their way to major consumers like Norway, Russia and China. 
     It is unclear whether Russia will also ban the import and 
     sale of seal products.
       Commercial sealing also takes place in a handful of other 
     counties, including Norway, Greenland and Namibia.
       In Canada, last year's catch of 207,000 seals--or roughly 
     one in every five pups born that year--earned the roughly 
     6,000 licensed sealers a total of $7 million, down from $33 
     million in 2006, according to Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for 
     the Canadian fisheries department. The hunting decreased, he 
     said, largely because of a sharp drop in prices for the 
     pelts, from $97 to $33, for a perfect specimen. Seals are 
     killed by rifle or by club.
       The harp seal population level has held steady at about 5.6 
     million for the last decade, he said, but anti-sealing groups 
     contest that figure.
       However, the Canadian industry came under rare official 
     scrutiny last week, when Mac Harb, a senator from Ontario, 
     introduced the legislation to cancel the coming hunt. He 
     argued that the industry was dying, propped up by public tax 
     dollars and costing Canada international good will. But his 
     proposal died when Mr. Harb could not get another member to 
     second his motion.
       ``There was silence. Total silence!'' he said in a 
     telephone interview on Wednesday. ``I was amazed that not one 
     of my colleagues, from any one of the political parties, 
     would even want to debate the issue.''

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