Germany wants to give seal hunt a thumping

By The Canadian Press

Animal welfare groups declared a major victory Monday in their battle to end the East Coast seal hunt as Germany moved to ban the importation of seal products.

Horst Seehofer, Germany’s agriculture minister, said he has repeatedly urged the European Union to prohibit imports of all seal products, but has grown tired of waiting for action.

He said he will introduce a bill to ban imports in Germany, but it remains unclear when that will happen or if there is political support for a ban.

Rebecca Aldworth, Canadian spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States, said the proposed ban could cost the Canadian industry about $2 million annually.

"It’s incredibly significant," Aldworth said from her office in Montreal, citing figures from Statistics Canada that show 26 per cent of Canada’s unprocessed sealskins went to Germany last year.

Norway remains Canada’s best customer for seal products, buying 51 per cent of its unprocessed sealskins in 2006.

In Ottawa, Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins said the German Bundestag has yet to see any legislation, and Germany remains out of step with the rest of the European Union.

He said the European Union’s executive body, the European Commission, decided last month that Canada’s current legislation adequately protects young seals.

Canadian sealers have been prohibited from killing the youngest harp seals, known as whitecoats, since 1987.

However, the EU will conduct an inquiry into the hunt before taking any action, which could include a new ban.

And Canadian diplomats have their hands full trying to counter what Jenkins called a persistent misinformation campaign waged by animal welfare groups.

"We knew that there was this kind of sentiment in the German parliament," Jenkins said, noting that similar views have emerged among politicians in Britain and Belgium.

"We have to get our information out and make sure that those people making decisions like this do so based on accurate information," he said in an interview. "There is a fair amount of activity going on."

Earlier this month, the British government said it would press its EU neighbours to introduce an import ban.

Last month, Belgium became the first EU nation to approve a national ban on the importation of seal products.

Jenkins said that ban doesn’t amount to much because Belgium buys virtually no seal products from Canada.

The hunt usually starts in late March in the Gulf of St. Lawrence before expanding to the north coast of Newfoundland.