Is the Seal Hunt Economically Important?
No. Sealing is an off-season activity conducted by fishermen from Canada’s East Coast. They make, on average, one twentieth of their incomes from seal hunting and the rest from commercial fisheries. Even in Newfoundland, where 90 percent of sealers live, revenues from the hunt account for less than 1 percent of the province’s economy and only 2 percent of the landed value of the fishery. According to the Newfoundland government, out of a population of half a million people, less than 6,000 fishermen participate in the seal hunt each year. The commercial seal hunt is an activity that Canada’s federal government could easily replace with economic alternatives, should it choose to do so. One option is a government buy-out. The HSUS and HSI advocate that the sealers ask the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to buy back their sealing licences. This will ensure that the sealers receive fair compensation for the additional income they make from participating in the commercial seal hunt
