As Europe reviews its rules on seal products, Canada calls for easing of restrictions

A seal suns itself on a dock in Burrard Inlet just outside of metro Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, May, 1, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)

The Canadian government is calling on the European Union to ease restrictions on seal products as member states review trade regulations.

Ottawa said in a letter dated Tuesday to the European Commission's vice-president that Canada has been given the opportunity to "provide input" on the seal trade while the union fine tunes its rules. The outcome is scheduled to be published on the site in eight weeks.

In 2009, the European Union limited imports for Canadian seal products, citing the "pain, distress, fear and other forms of suffering" of seals because of the way in which they are killed and skinned.

Canada has many species of seals including bearded, grey, harbour, harp, hooded and ringed. Three of these -- grey, harp, and hooded -- are killed for commercial uses.

However, a Senate fisheries committee said in a May report that there were "troubling science and research gaps" in relation to seals, including the ecosystems they inhabit, their diets and their distribution.

"A lack of data and scientific evidence often seem to be used by Fisheries and Oceans Canada as reasons for inaction, even though anecdotal evidence that seals are negatively impacting fish stocks and ecosystems seems abundant," the report said. "The precautionary approach must be used in this situation and seal populations must be actively managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada."

The Fisheries Department puts the grey and harp seal populations at 424,300 and 7.6 million animals, respectively.

Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier says in the letter that European Union regulations have led to a drop in Canada's access to global markets for seal products, with exports falling from $18 million in 2006 to $515,000 in 2022.

"For more than a decade, this European Union requirement has significantly restricted the trade of Canada's sustainable, humane, and well-regulated seal harvest," says the letter, also signed by five other federal ministers. "This has directly impacted the lives, livelihoods and culture of Indigenous and coastal communities in Canada for whom a sustainable, humane and ethical seal harvest has long been a way of life."

The seal trade has been an important source of identity and revenue for Indigenous and Inuit communities, especially women, the letter says.

"Seals have provided food, clothing, tools and warmth for generations. In particular, Indigenous and Inuit women were traditionally responsible for working the seal pelt, and this was an important source of identity and respect, as well as a source of revenue that provided economic independence," said the letter.

The European regulation was amended in 2015 to make an exception for products that come from hunts by Inuit or other Indigenous communities, but the letter says that has not prevented the effectively "complete" closing of the European Union market to seal products. The European Commission acknowledged the lack in trade last October, saying the exception for Indigenous hunts is not well known in the union.

Canada is asking the union to repeal its regulation on the seal trade and replace it with rules that offer access for "ethically and sustainably harvested products." The letter says Canadian hunters use a quick and humane technique to kill the animals.

"Developed and implemented based on the recommendations from a working group comprised of independent veterinarians, the three-step process is as humane -- if not more so -- than most other methods of dispatching wild or domesticated animals in the world."

A spokesperson for the European Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2024.