And The Slaughter of Cute, Furry Things Continues...
Greenpeace is accusing the Canadian Government of inaccuracy and incompetence in it's 'scientific' justification of the annual Harp Seal Hunt.
Specifically:
Just for some perspective.
Maybe we could just classify the seals as terrorists, with their unprovoked attacks on our sense of pity.
Incompetence, short sightedness, mismanagement, callousness in the face of greed. Where have we seen this regarding marine life before? Hmm............
Oh yeah, here. Did you know that if you live in Newfoundland, even if you live on the shore of the Atlantic, you are not allowed more than 5 cod per day for your own or your family's subsistence. But if you are a large, foriegn owned commercial fishing operation, it's balls out baby!
This is mismanagement and incompetence at it's worst.
By the way, I used to live in Northern Canada. In Yellowknife, NWT to be exact (nowhere near where the seal 'hunt' takes place). The quality of the light in the picture, the deep orange hue, reminds me of the long, gorgeous sunsets that happen in the summer. The sun dips below the horizon only for a couple hours, so you can sit outside and watch it slowly set for hours, wait awhile, then watch it come back up. I highly recommend finding a warm, pink rock just outside of town, and bring a little smoke and a good friend or two...
Specifically:
Failure to accurately reflect the actual number of seals killed in the hunt rendering the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) quota figures scientifically indefensible. The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) or quota for harp seals in 2003 - 2005 is 975,000 but this figure does not take into account seals that are “struck and lost”: illegally hunted, killed and discarded due to pelt damage and those killed for their organs and therefore not included in the pelt count.
Population projections are based on assumptions that environmental and biological factors remain unchanged over the short and long term, a premise that is highly questionable in light of the escalating impact of climate change on the oceans and ice conditions.
Quotas are based on a seal census conducted at five year intervals. Because the hunt focuses on seal pups (nearly 95% will be over 14 days old but under one year old) that do not reach breeding age for five years, impacts on the herd can take as many as 10 years to show up and 15 years to establish any meaningful trends. This renders DFO conservation milestones and monitoring virtually meaningless.
Just for some perspective.
Maybe we could just classify the seals as terrorists, with their unprovoked attacks on our sense of pity.
Incompetence, short sightedness, mismanagement, callousness in the face of greed. Where have we seen this regarding marine life before? Hmm............
Oh yeah, here. Did you know that if you live in Newfoundland, even if you live on the shore of the Atlantic, you are not allowed more than 5 cod per day for your own or your family's subsistence. But if you are a large, foriegn owned commercial fishing operation, it's balls out baby!
This is mismanagement and incompetence at it's worst.
By the way, I used to live in Northern Canada. In Yellowknife, NWT to be exact (nowhere near where the seal 'hunt' takes place). The quality of the light in the picture, the deep orange hue, reminds me of the long, gorgeous sunsets that happen in the summer. The sun dips below the horizon only for a couple hours, so you can sit outside and watch it slowly set for hours, wait awhile, then watch it come back up. I highly recommend finding a warm, pink rock just outside of town, and bring a little smoke and a good friend or two...
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on August 23, 2006 at 2:51 PM.
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