The cull of 70,000 grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has been endorsed by the Canadian Senate committee. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans blames the seals for preventing cod stocks from recovering in the Gulf.
SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/10/23/nl-senate-grey-seals-cull-1023.html
Seals and other natural predators are not parasites that "damage" fish, but the opposite is true: natural predators are important stabilizers that support fish health and ocean health by eating the sick and infirm, gaurenteeing a heathy cod stock.
There were 30 million seals when the first European explorers landed on the eastern coast of Canada in the late 17th century, and the cod were far more than abundant. Now, with less than one fourth of the original seal population, its far-fetched, (and even impossible), to blame seals for causing the fish stock collapse.
Globally, 30 percent of fish stocks have already collapsed, while virtually all fisheries risk running out of commercially viable catches by 2050. There are 35 million people fishing around the world on 20 million boats.
Killing seals is cruel, scientifically unsound, and unsustainable. It is certain that if the Canadian government continues with their current management (extermination) approach, seal populations will become endangered.
We ask Canada to stop taking ecological risks, and end this "experimental" reduction.
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Gail Shea
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-9223
Fax: (613) 992-1974
EMail: Shea.G@parl.gc.ca
Web Site: www.gailshea.ca
Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
EMail: pm@pm.gc.ca
The cull of 70,000 grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has been endorsed by the Canadian Senate committee. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans blames the seals for preventing cod stocks from recovering in the Gulf.
SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/10/23/nl-senate-grey-seals-cull-1023.html
Seals and other natural predators are not parasites that "damage" fish, but the opposite is true: natural predators are important stabilizers that support fish health and ocean health by eating the sick and infirm, gaurenteeing a heathy cod stock.
There were 30 million seals when the first European explorers landed on the eastern coast of Canada in the late 17th century, and the cod were far more than abundant. Now, with less than one fourth of the original seal population, its far-fetched, (and even impossible), to blame seals for causing the fish stock collapse.
Globally, 30 percent of fish stocks have already collapsed, while virtually all fisheries risk running out of commercially viable catches by 2050. There are 35 million people fishing around the world on 20 million boats.
Killing seals is cruel, scientifically unsound, and unsustainable. It is certain that if the Canadian government continues with their current management (extermination) approach, seal populations will become endangered.
We ask Canadian to stop taking ecological risks, and end this "experimental" reductuction.
