More than 19,000 seals culled in Canada

Yahoo News 26 Mar 09;

OTTAWA (AFP) – Sealers taking part in Canada's controversial yearly hunt have slaughtered some 19,411 seals so far this year, reaching their full kill-quota, fisheries officials said Thursday.

"It's been calm and orderly," said Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for Canada's fisheries and oceans department, describing the first leg of the annual commercial cull, which ended Wednesday.

Some 350 Canadian sealers in 20 vessels and on the shores of the Magdalen Islands have taken part in the annual seal kill.

Weather permitting, a small hunt of 1,500 animals around Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, will take place on Friday, Jenkins said.

Otherwise, the commercial hunt would resume next month off the west coast of Canada's island Newfoundland province and near Quebec's lower northshore, targeting some 63,000 seals.

Thereafter, the main hunt off the northeast coast of Newfoundland will kick off, said Jenkins. Some 188,600 seals are expected to be slaughtered during this phase.

Canada is home to the world's largest annual commercial seal hunt. Harp seals also are hunted commercially off the coasts of Greenland, Norway, the United States, Namibia, Britain, Finland and Sweden.

The seals are hunted mainly for their pelts, but also for meat and fat, which is used in beauty products.

The Canadian hunt has been fiercely criticized by animal rights groups, who say it is cruel.

The Canadian government countered that the 350-year-old hunt is crucial for some 6,000 North Atlantic fisherman who rely on the seal hunt for up to 35 percent of their total annual income.

In April, the European parliament is to vote on a proposed prohibition on seal products that would ban products derived from seals from being imported, exported or even transported across the 27-member bloc.

The measure still has to be approved by EU governments before it can be implemented.

Ottawa has said it would fight any curbs on the international trade of seal products.