Netting a better seal deal, balancing animal welfare with fishing rights [Advocacy Lab Content]

Animal welfare groups are hoping EU legislation protecting seals is kept above board, while Baltic fishermen are trying to salvage political nets to aid their fight for adequate fish hauls.

“We’re hoping that this REFIT is simply a box-ticking exercise to show that they’re responding appropriately to complaints made by certain stakeholders,” said Jo Swabe, senior director of public affairs at Humane Society International/Europe. Swabe has said that “REFIT risks poking a hornet’s nest.”

“It would be, I guess, insane for this ban to be rescinded after the European Union has invested so much energy and resources into defending the legislation at the WTO,” she added.

Opening the can on the ban

The EU trade ban on seal products was introduced in 2009 and later given a tighter structure when it was amended in 2015 after a ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) allowed only indigenous communities to market seal products.

Now the Commission’s evaluation of the EU seal regime will assess whether it is still fit for purpose.

“The idea is really to show to the EU member states around the Baltic Sea, and Canada, that they’ve been heard, and that we are trying to do something to address their concerns. We are, however, not liable for the outcome – it will depend on the public consultations and the stakeholders and governments involved,” says Anne Delvaux, International Relations Officer in the Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment.

Swedish fish

Sven-Gunnar Lunneryd says the evaluation of the EU seal regime is “absolutely necessary”. Lunneryd is a member of the faculty Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

A co-author of Reassessing the management criteria of growing seal populations: The case of Baltic grey seal and coastal fishery he says we need to “get the balance between the seals, the ecosystem and the fisheries”, stressing that by management he means utilising “the resource that seals are.”

The population of grey seals in the Baltic Sea area has grown to over 60,000 in 2022, from just 5000 in 1994. Fisheries today are dealing with declining fish stocks, which is not something that seals can be blamed for entirely; environmental changes have a part to play in it too, but there is an ongoing struggle between seals and those who make their living from the sea.

Lunneryd says of the number of local fishermen in Sweden “there are not many” because destruction by the seals leaves it hard for them to fish economically. He says there will be an “ecosystem catastrophe if we don’t do anything about the seals.”

While each of the affected states has hunting quotas for grey seals, the quotas are never met as there is no incentive for hunters to kill seals at their own expense, if they can’t recoup the cost by selling seal products.

“Why should people go out hunting seals if they just have to throw them back to rot in the sea, that’s unethical,” Lunneryd explained.

Estonian islands

Southeast of Sweden, the Estonians are making the same complaints about the damage seals are doing to the fisheries, and Lunneryd’s Estonian counterpart is happy to have things taken into review.

“I think it is 100% needed, it is very much needed,” says Markus Vetemaa of the University of Tartu.

Recalling the overhunting of seals years ago when figures were declining, he said he fully agrees that stopping the hunting of grey seals was a good plan but now “we are at fifteen times those numbers” he believes remarking that “it is absolutely the right time to start hunting again” and lift the EU ban on the sale of seal products.

He uses the argument that in Estonian they can market elk products but “for some historical reason” seal products remain off the market in the EU: “It would give people the possibility to earn some money – those who are living in the coastal small islands where they have little opportunities for livelihood,” he explains.

Speaking about why the quotas of seals hunted in Estonia are not being met, he said it’s due to a multitude of regulations and restrictions, and the best places with the right circumstances for shooting a seal appear to be in nature-protected areas, so hunting cannot occur in those places.

The scars of the hunt

Public opinion is marked by scenes of blood-soaked snow, boats and white seal pup fur – dramatic images which triggered a public outcry to ban seal clubbing and hunting, and in turn, led to such strong restrictions in the EU. Those sights still occur in Canada, and the Humane Society International bears witness to it annually.

“This is a scientifically baseless kill, not a cull. The fact that local governments just permit fishermen to shoot at seals on an ad-hoc basis, and isn’t carrying out a structured, funded cull, speaks volumes,” says Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of HSI/Canada

“No credible biologist would suggest killing seals will have a predictable and positive outcome on fish stocks, and that is why this is not a state-sponsored solution. There are far more effective, non-lethal measures that are available to the fishing industry. We truly anticipate that the EU will do the right thing here,” she explained.

The harp seal is the seal of concern in Canadian waters, as there has been a sharp decline in numbers, something which troubles Michael Bernard, deputy director of HSI Canada.

“3.7 million [seal] might sound like a lot, but this is the global population of this species – we could lose this species within decades if the commercial seal slaughter reverts to industrial-scale levels. The EU ban is critical in stopping that, so I think that we have to work hard to make sure the EU upholds it.”

Public consultation

EU citizens are invited to participate in a public consultation on the matter until 7 August 2024, and HSI is appealing to supporters to participate.

“In terms of our vociferous response to this REFIT, we’re essentially reminding people of just why this legislation originally came into being and what this legislation actually set out to do – those reasons haven’t changed,” said Swabe.

[By Fiona Alston I Edited by Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

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