Canada seeks EU approval for seal hunting code

A Canadian senator is looking to establish a worldwide seal hunt ethics code to try to reassure European parliamentarians considering a ban on the trade in seal parts, she said Tuesday.

Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette is to present a motion to Canada's parliament by April 1, when EU lawmakers are to vote on a ban, according to her office.

She told AFP sealing nations Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland have "agreed in principle" to support her proposal.

Negotiations continue on the actual wording of the universal declaration, she said.

Canada hopes that requiring training for sealers on how to humanely slaughter seals, legislating standards for seal products and taking measures to safeguard the species will silence critics of the hunt.

"We plan to establish rigorous standards, and we hope this will alleviate the pressures on European parliamentarians" from animal rights lobbyists to ban the seal trade, Hervieux-Payette said.

"We're fighting ideology and bloody images (of slaughtered seals) using ethics and science," she said.

The European parliament is to vote on April 1 on a proposed prohibition on products derived from seals that would ban them 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.

If it goes ahead, Hervieux-Payette said it would have minimal impact on the Canadian seal industry, which relies mainly on exports to Russia and China, but it could escalate into a trade fight that could hurt Canada-EU free trade negotiations.

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

The Canadian cull began as usual on Monday in the Magdalen Islands region of the Saint Lawrence Gulf and is to expand to the coast of Newfoundland province next month.

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

Animal rights group denounce the hunt as cruel. In past years actors and activists including the Dalai Lama, Brigitte Bardot, Paul McCartney, Kim Bassinger and many others, have campaigned against the cull.

Last week, Russia banned the hunting of harp seals less than a year old, after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized the "bloody practice," its natural resources ministry said.

According to a discussion paper entitled "Repositioning the Seal Industry," Ottawa must do a better job of touting the benefits of sealing such as being a source of Omega 3, collagen and heart valve replacements.

"This is not a declining trade," said Hervieux-Payette, pointing to its 350 year history in Canada, and increasing kill quotas.

The Canadian government announced a total allowable catch this year of 338,000 harp, hooded and grey seals -- up 43,000 from last year -- out of local herds of more than 6.4 million.

Returns however are dwindling.

The value of the Canadian seal hunt in 2008 was six million dollars (US), according to the Canadian fisheries department, down from 10 million in 2007 and 27 million in 2006.

The average price per pelt received by sealers is approximately 42 dollars and the seasonal catch can represent 25-35 percent of 6,000 local fishermen's total annual income, the department said.