Bad science: harp seals' future on thin ice

It is only a matter of days before the Canadian government signals the beginning of what may be the biggest seal hunt in history. 350,000 seals could die this year as part of a three-year government program to kill a million seals.

When undertaking the largest hunt of marine mammals on the globe you would think the Canadian government has a rock-solid justification backed up by sound figures. After all, they would not hunt so many seals if this threatened the long-term survival of the species, right?

Wrong. Analysis of the justification of the hunt in our report "Canadian Seal Hunt: No Management and No Plan", highlights a number of gaping holes in the government's case:

• Canadian scientists only count the population every five years -- so any declines in population based on new birth counts could take up to 15 years or longer to be detected and verified.
• The methods used by Canada to monitor the hunt quotas fail to count seals that are wounded but escape to die later, seals killed by illegal hunting and those that are killed for their organs and then discarded.
• Future population estimates don't consider other changes, like climate change, that could adversely affect the seal population. Changes in sea-ice can have a profound impact on the feeding and breeding habits of seals.
• Other smaller hunts and threats to seals are also ignored when estimating future seal populations.

Mhairi Dunlop from Greenpeace International explains why the hunt should not continue: "It is irresponsible and scientifically unjustifiable of the Canadian government to allow the killing of nearly a million seals when their own scientists are unable to accurately substantiate the size of the herd, the actual number of seals taken in the hunt or the impact of external pressures like climate change on the health of the population". The Canadian government has a long history of mismanaging marine ecosystems, yielding to the short-term interests of the fishing and sealing industries at great cost to jobs and marine life."

Don't worry, we know what we are doing

Canadian government claims that the seal herd is "healthy and abundant" and "at a level where there are no conservation concerns," are inaccurate at best and ironically reminiscent of past claims concerning the Atlantic Cod. The world's most abundant fishery, on the Canadian Grand Banks, was fished to oblivion with the help of government subsidies. Rather than learn from this mistake the government seems to be repeating the same sorry tale with seals in the place of cod.

Government scientists have produced data that is overly optimistic, inaccurate and out of date. There is simply no justification for this hunt. If Canada really takes the precautionary principle seriously then it should err on the side of conservation before the seals become another casualty of Canada's gross mismanagement of fragile ecosystems and species.

More info:

For in depth info read the press release and full report.