Harp Seals May Be Extinct in Two Decades.... by Maria Daines on The Pipeline at IndieMusicPeople

Harp Seals May Be Extinct in Two Decades....
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Harp Seals May Be Extinct in Two Decades

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a marine wildlife conservation organization and the primary reason we oppose the slaughter of harp seals by Canada and Norway is that there is sufficient evidence that we should be very concerned about the survival of this species.
The Canadian government would have the public believe that the seal slaughter is exclusively an animal rights issue and not a conservation issue. It is both. Some groups legitimately focus on the humane concerns of sealing. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is concerned about both the way the seals are killed and the impact of this excessive slaughter on the oceanic eco-system and on the survival of the harp seal as a species.
According to the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans the Harp Seal populations are in excess of five million animals. Independent studies do not back up that figure and the actual population is unknown but most likely lies between a low of 2 million and a high of 4 million.
The problem is that the numbers are irrelevant. The passenger pigeon once numbered in excess of a billion individuals. The last one died in a zoo in 1914.
The annual slaughter of wild populations of harp seals is the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world with an annual commercial spring quota of 325,000. The actual kill is much higher because the quota is exceeded every year. In addition the Inuit sealers kill another 10,000 harp seals every summer. The Canadian lumpfish fishery takes an annual incidental kill of another 17,000 on average each year. Many thousands of others die in nets, traps and are shot by ignorant fishermen.
The population of harp seals may be considered large by some special interest sectors but some species, especially some marine species require large populations for survival. Harp seal populations have already been severely diminished from the approximately 20 million plus of these seals prior to the European introduction of sealing on the East coast of Canada in the late 17th Century.
But there is another more devastating threat to seal survival than the sealers. That threat is global warming. A combination of high kill quotas and diminishing ice could very well wipe out the harp seal within twenty years.
Dr. David Lavigne, one of the world’s leading experts on harp seals and their behaviors recently said ""The combination of a lack of ice and a seal hunt could result in the loss of almost all of this year's pups born in the Gulf and, possibly, on the Front, as well.""

The Canadian government has consistently refused to consider diminishment of ice as a factor in setting their kill quotas.

“Every year more and more seal pups die from drowning and this very large number of losses is not factored into the quota setting process.” Said Captain Paul Watson. “The government of Canada appears to be deliberately or incompetently intent upon exterminating the harp seal.”

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans are aware of the large kill and government reports reflect a loss of as many as one-quarter of pups born to poor ice conditions. The DFO report states that seal populations will deplete by more than 70 percent within the next 15 years. DFO scientists are aware of the threat but the government is doing absolutely nothing to address the threat.

“The Canadian government must act responsibly,” said Captain Watson. “If there is no ice or only small patches of ice, there should be no seal hunt.”

Even without a seal hunt hundreds of thousands of seal pups will die in March 2007 because of lack of ice.

Warmer conditions will also bring disease to the seals like canine distemper and the deadly plague of brucellosis. The seals in turn could pass brucellosis onto Polar bears, Narwhals and Beluga whales.

Polar and sub polar ecology is literally unraveling before our eyes.

“I have been going to the ice on the Labrador F

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