A review of animal welfare implications of the Canadian commercial seal hunt: A critique

In a recent article in this journal (Butterworth and Richardson. A review of animal welfare implications of the Canadian commercial seal hunt. Marine Policy 2013;38:457–469), the authors argued that “generally accepted principles of humane slaughter cannot be carried out effectively or consistently during the Canadian commercial seal hunt”. The present review purports to show that these authors' conclusions were incorrect because they were highly selective in their treatment of the information available and made no attempt to consider other perspectives. In addition, their reliance on anecdotal video sequences to support some of their points was seriously flawed since a vast proportion of these sequences failed to meet fundamental criteria of scientific rigor. The article by Butterworth and Richardson [5] failed to provide an unbiased presentation of the available data and therefore did not bring further clarity to the debate on the Canadian commercial seal hunt.     

A review of animal welfare implications of the Canadian commercial seal hunt

The Canadian seal hunt is the world's largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals and, as such, has been the subject of veterinary scrutiny for half a century. In that time, veterinary experts have made multiple recommendations to improve welfare at the seal hunt, some of which have been included in Canadian sealing regulations. Yet analysis of video material and studies on the outcomes of the hunt suggest that the potential for suffering during the hunt continues, and may, in fact, be increasing. In the past decade, numerous countries have taken action to prohibit their trade in products of commercial seal hunts in response to public concerns about the welfare of the seals. With these actions now being examined at the World Trade Organization, it is important to determine if these concerns are warranted. This paper reviews relevant veterinary science, exploring the intrinsic elements of commercial sealing and unique physical adaptations of seals that prevent effective and consistent application of humane slaughter methods at the seal hunt. The review of available data indicates that generally accepted principles of humane slaughter cannot be carried out effectively or consistently in the commercial seal hunt.     

Population Structure of White Sea Harp Seals (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pagophilus groenlandicus</Emphasis>) as an Adaptation to Habitat Conditions

The spatiotemporal distribution of harp seal pups around breeding grounds in the White Sea is considered. It is shown that spatial localization of groups of females with different terms of mass pup birth takes place. This somewhat confirms the data on the gregarious structure of White Sea harp seal population. It is possible to explain the structure of this adaptation of the seal population to different living conditions in different feeding areas.     

A review of animal welfare implications of the Canadian commercial seal hunt – a response to critique of paper MP13 172

Canada's commercial seal hunt warrants close examination in that it is the largest kill of marine mammals on earth, it exists for commercial reasons, it targets deep diving seals with unique physical adaptations, and it is conducted in a particularly remote and uncontrolled environment amidst unstable sea ice and extreme weather conditions. For these reasons, commercial sealing in Canada has been the subject of regular veterinary scrutiny for more than five decades. In that time, despite repeated recommendations and some changes to the regulations, considerable evidence continues to be presented during each new season of poor welfare outcomes for seals.To add to the discussion we (Butterworth and Richardson) (2013) [1] reviewed multiple studies on commercial sealing, government reports, trade journal articles and recommendation reports, in an attempt to answer the question of why, despite the efforts of veterinary advisors and government to improve the situation, seals continue to die in inhumane ways. In examining the available evidence, the environment in which commercial sealing occurs, and the physical adaptations of seals, the authors concluded that generally accepted principles of humane slaughter cannot be implemented effectively and consistently in the context of commercial sealing.     

Transfer of lipids from plankton to blubber of harp and hooded seals off East Greenland

Sub-Arctic marine ecosystems are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world's oceans. The capacity of herbivorous zooplankton, such as Calanus, to biosynthesize and store large amounts of lipids during the short and intense spring bloom is a fundamental adaptation which facilitates the large production in these ecosystems. These energy-rich lipids are rapidly transferred through the food chain to Arctic seals. The fatty acids and stable isotopes from harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) and hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) off East Greenland as well as their potential prey, were analysed. The results were used to describe the lipid dynamics and energy transfer in parts of the East Greenland ecosystem. Even if the two seal species showed considerable overlap in diet and occurred at relatively similar trophic levels, the fatty acid profiles indicated that the bases of the food chains of harp and hooded seals were different. The fatty acids of harp seals originate from diatom-based food chain, whereas the fatty acids of hooded seals originate from dinoflagellate and the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis pouchetii-based food chain. Stable isotope analyses showed that both species are true carnivores on the top of their food chains, with hooded seal being slightly higher on the food chain than harp seal.     

Biological transport and mammal to mammal transfer of organochlorines in Arctic fauna

Ringed seal (Phoca hispida) is assumed to be the most important and common prey of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). However, during a scientific survey in the ice area of the northern Barents Sea east of Svalbard in June 1995, an unexpectedly high number of polar bears were observed feeding on harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) carcasses. Samples of both harp and ringed seals were obtained and organochlorine (OC) occurrence and pattern in these two potential polar bear prey species were determined. Significantly higher OC concentrations were found in harp seals, as compared to the ringed seals. All animals in the northern harp seal group were lean specimens in late moult. The industrial chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and the OC pesticides bis-2,2,(chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethanes (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), and chlordanes (CHLORs) were analysed in blubber. The concentrations of sigma PCB (sum of concentrations of 16 PCB congeners) and sigma DDT (sum of concentrations of p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE) in the northern harp seal group ranged from 2093 to 20,382 and 1460 to 10,381 ng g-1 lipid weight, with mean concentrations of 11,133 and 6847 ng g-1 lipid weight, respectively. The mean concentrations of the CHLORs, oxychlordane and trans-nonachlor, were 1311 and 3743 ng g-1 lipid weight, respectively, while the mean concentrations of HCB and HCH isomers (alpha-, beta- and gamma-HCH) were all < 500 ng g-1 lipid weight. No significant difference was found in the mean total blubber mass between the two seal species when collected in June. This indicates that polar bears preying on harp seals instead of ringed seals at this time of the year could accumulate significantly higher PCB concentrations. We suggest that polar bears feeding along the ice-edge east of Svalbard in May and June preferentially prey on harp seals instead of ringed seals, and that this may partly explain the variation in PCB concentrations among polar bears from the Norwegian Arctic. An hypothesis is that the harp seal may function as a transport vector of OCs into the high Arctic environment.     

Cytochrome P450 in seals: monooxygenase activities, immunochemical cross-reactions and response to phenobarbital treatment

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activities, reflecting the expression of various subfamilies of P450, were measured in liver samples of harp and hooded seal. Differences in some of the investigated parameters were observed between the two species, between sexes, and between pups and adults. Treatment of single female pups from each species with phenobarbital (i.v. 45 mg/kg), resulted in increased levels of EROD and estradiol 2-hydroxylase activities in both species, whereas MCOD, ECOD and PROD activities were induced only in the harp seal sample. Antibodies against a dog P450 2B form (anti-dog PBD-2 IgG) gave a single band around 52kD in both species, strongest in male pups. This band seemed elevated in the PB-treated harp seal pup. Based on the single treated pup of each species, the results suggest that seals respond to PB-type treatment with a weaker response, and with different enzyme patterns, that most terrestrial mammals. Antibodies against cod P450 IAI cross-reacted with two bands in liver samples from adult seals of both species (about 54 and 52kD), but this was strongest in the hooded seal. The intensity of the bands reflected the EROD activities in the samples, suggesting the application of immunodetection in screening marine mammals for effects of environmental contamination.     

A report on the Norwegian minke whale hunt

The Norwegian minke whale hunt was resumed in 1993, despite considerable international opposition. This paper investigates economic aspects of the 1993–1996 hunts. It is shown that the hunts were profitable for the participating vessels. Adverse international effects due to the resumed hunt are discussed, as is the future of commercial whale hunting in Norway.     

The influence of wind and ice on spring walrus hunting success on St. Lawrence Island,Alaska

St. Lawrence Island Yupik hunters on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, take hundreds of Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) each year. The harvest and associated effort (hunting trips taken), however, are variable from year to year and also from day to day, influenced by physical environmental factors among other variables. We used data from 1996 to 2010 to construct generalized additive models (GAMs) to examine several relationships among the variables. Physical factors explained 18% of the variability in harvest in Savoonga and 25% of the variability in effort; the corresponding figures for Gambell were 24% and 32%. Effort alone explained 63% of the harvest in Savoonga and 59% in Gambell. Physical factors played a relatively smaller role in determining hunting efficiency (walrus taken per hunting trip), explaining 15% of the variability in efficiency in Savoonga and 22% in Gambell, suggesting that physical factors play a larger role in determining whether to hunt than in the outcome of the hunt once undertaken. Combining physical factors with effort explained 70% of the harvest variability in Savoonga and 66% in Gambell. Although these results indicate that other factors (e.g. fuel prices, socioeconomic conditions) collectively cause a greater share of variability in harvest and effort than ice and wind, at least as indicated by the measures used as predictors in the GAMs, they also suggest that environmental change is also likely to influence future harvest levels, and that climate models that yield appropriately scaled data on ice and wind around St. Lawrence Island may be of use in determining the magnitude and direction of those influences.     

Leaning on user-groups: The role of civil society in fisheries governance

Fisheries have long been managed through public–private partnerships based on collaboration between government and user-groups. The alleged benefits of involving the latter—as representatives of civil society—are a management system that is more flexible and legitimate than one based exclusively on top–down command and control. A question that is rarely addressed is whether civil society is up to the task. Are voluntary associations fit—‘technically’ and ‘democratically’—to take on management responsibilities? Assessing the pros and cons of involving civil society in fisheries governance requires a closer look at the role of user-groups in public policy-making. This paper attempts to do that by examining certain aspects of the Norwegian system of fisheries management, focusing—in particular—on the role of its most prominent civil society player: the Norwegian Fishers’ Association. The association has long been a privileged partner, virtually monopolizing the attention and goodwill of government. How has this been justified, and does it still serve its original purpose? As the fishery has changed, so—we contend—has the association: from something akin to a public interest group into what is essentially a ‘trade union’ pursuing the economic interests of its most powerful members. How and why did this change—in goals and priorities—come about, and is it tenable that this particular partnership continues? What lessons, if any, can be drawn from the Norwegian case about the pros and cons of user involvement, interactive governance and the role of civil society in fisheries management?     

Free form property rights for fisheries: The decentralized design of rights-based management through groundfish “sectors” in New England

Harvest cooperatives were implemented in several US fisheries over the last decade during a period when US law prohibited implementation of any new individual fishery quota (IFQ) systems. Harvest cooperatives provided an alternative to individual quotas as a means to end the race for fish and increase fishery profitability. The prohibition on new IFQ systems in the US was lifted, but harvest cooperatives remain a more feasible and perhaps a superior alternative to IFQs for some fisheries. The New England Fishery Management Council is on the verge of implementing a new management system for the groundfish fishery based on harvest cooperatives known as “sectors”. This paper describes the New England sector management system and discusses a number of advantages but also some drawbacks relative to IFQs. It argues that a hybrid of the two approaches could have advantages over either.     

Potential biological removal and other currently used management rules for marine mammal populations: A comparison

The management of marine mammal populations requires the balancing of conflicting interests and also compliance with national legislation and international agreements. These conflicts are intensifying and it is becoming urgent that management goals, and justifications, are clear and explicit. This paper summarises six methods currently used to assess the status of marine mammal populations: the IUCN Red List Criteria; the regulations under the European Union Habitats Directive; PBR; the IWC's Revised Management Procedure; HELCOM's approach to managing seals; and the Canadian Objective-Based Fisheries Management system for harp seals. It compares the assumptions and implications of the methods then describes how one of them, PBR, can be re-presented to make explicit the subjective choice at its centre, and push the decision about conservation targets back from scientists to policymakers, where it belongs.     

Development of an integrated fisheries co-management framework for new and emerging commercial fisheries in the Canadian Beaufort Sea

The Canadian Beaufort Sea is one of the last places on Earth that has not experienced large-scale commercial fisheries. The aboriginal people of the western Canadian Arctic, the Inuvialuit, have become increasingly concerned about the potential effects of large-scale commercial operations on key subsistence species of fish and marine mammals and the marine ecosystem upon which they depend. A 1984 comprehensive land settlement agreement (treaty) between Canada and the Inuvialuit established a co-management regime for limited aspects of fish and marine mammal resource management, and gave the Inuvialuit rights to subsistence fisheries and existing commercial fisheries but no preference for new commercial fisheries. The Fisheries Joint Management Committee (the fisheries co-management body), the Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Inuvialuit Game Council have developed an integrated fisheries management framework agreement for the review and assessment of any proposed commercial fisheries within the Canadian Beaufort Sea. The agreement provides clarity and transparency for decision making and strengthens the protection of fish stocks. The development of the framework depended upon a history of cooperation between the parties and a bridging initiative by the Fisheries Joint Management Committee and an NGO that brought together the Inuvialuit and the government.     

Strategies for assertion of conservation and local management rights: A Haida Gwaii herring story

Under what conditions can an aboriginal fishing community keep a commercial fishery closed because of persistent low stock abundance when the federal government insists on opening it to commercial fishing? This paper explores a decades long effort by the Haida Nation to protect local herring stocks on Haida Gwaii through a precautionary approach to commercial fishing, recently resulting in a Federal Court-granted injunction that prevented the Canadian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from opening a commercial herring fishery on Haida Gwaii in 2015. The successful effort by the Haida Nation to protect herring stocks ultimately required a combination of strategies involving confrontation, negotiation and litigation that occurred across two management scales (local and coast-wide) and two levels of dispute resolution. Strategies were successful as a result of four key factors: (a) ongoing conservation concerns about probable harm to herring populations, (b) the existence of aboriginal rights that raises standards for federal government consultation and accommodation, (c) an existing negotiated co-management agreement between the Haida and Canada about the area where most herring stocks are located, and (d) strategic interactions among local and coast-wide forums where herring closures were debated.     

The Norwegian system and the distribution of claims to redfeed

Identifying competing interests and potential claims to a new marine resource, the plankton redfeed, which may be central as a solution to diminishing supplies of marine oils world wide, is critical prior to a commercial harvest thereof. The competing interests are found to be between those Norwegian fisheries organization taking an encompassing view of fisheries interests and those wanting more focus on the well-being of the coastal fishermen. Working within a corporatist setting, it is found, that interest organizations in Norway are included comprehensively by the national government in the decision-making process, but that the main group having the most power is Norges Fiskarlag, which will draw the quota distribution of a future redfeed harvest off shore and away from the coastal fishermen.     

Understanding and contextualizing social impacts from the privatization of fisheries: An overview

Fisheries management around the world has experimented with regulations to promote privatization, in order to reach such multifaceted goals as ending overfishing and reducing economic inefficiencies. This review surveys a wide range of empirical experiences in different contexts around the world to help provide a fuller picture of potential and sometimes disparate consequences from privatization in general and new ways of organizing around fishing that can follow in the wake of such measures. Looking at the many different participants in the fishing industry—from crew, small-boat owners, to households and communities—as well as the diverse sociocultural contexts in which fishing takes place, enables a better understanding of who and what is impacted, how they are impacted, why and with what further consequences, such that communities come to be seen less oppositional to economy, but rather constituted by multiple scalar processes and by economic relations comprising different motivations and behaviors.     

Whale watching, the Buenos Aires Group and the politics of the International Whaling Commission

Whale watching is now reputed to be a $2 billion a year industry. This industry has the potential to impact the politics of whaling, specifically the moratorium on all commercial whaling in three ways: by creating political and economic counterweights to whalers, by countering claims about who may legitimately manage whales and to what end and by transforming views about whales and whaling both within whaling states and beyond. This article examines whale watching in Latin America and the Caribbean and the alliance of Latin American and Caribbean members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) known as the Buenos Aires Group (BAG). The BAG group has emerged as coherent group opposing the ending of the moratorium and championing the views of whale watchers. The article finds that whale watching creates a politically important interest group in an area lacking whaling operations; it argues that these regional opponents of whaling provide a counter weight to charges that opposition to whaling is exclusively the providence of rich, urban citizens of developed countries and draw upon politically powerful frames in justifying their opposition to the lifting of the moratorium. Finally, it finds limited evidence that whale-watching is associated with a rise in general concern for marine mammals in the region. There remains the question, however, of what the future of whale watching in the region will be over the longer term.     

Fishery-seal interactions in Irish waters: Current perspectives and future research priorities

Interactions between seals and the fishing industry are an on-going problem in Ireland and indeed globally across the range of most seal species. These interactions occur at both the operational (seal damage to catches and fishing gear) and biological (competition for shared resources) level. With declines in fish stocks there has been increased interest in the extent of competition for resources between commercial fisheries and seals. High levels of seal damage perceived by the fishing industry has led to frequent calls for seal culls, highlighting the significance of the problem. However, the scale of interaction between seals and commercial fishing and aquaculture in Ireland heretofore remained unclear. A comprehensive review of existing data, augmented with data from key stakeholders on the current state of play is presented to provide a realistic and representative account of the situation. This suggests that seal interactions with commercial fisheries in Ireland are most significant in inshore (<12 nautical miles from shore) static-net (or passive) fisheries (e.g. gill/tangle nets) and have increased following the driftnet ban in 2006, which suggests displacement of seal interactions from salmon to other fisheries. The industry highlighted pollack, angler fish, cod, and turbot fisheries as the main inshore fisheries currently impacted by operational damage to gear and catch by seals. Seal damage to line-caught salmon continues, with industry feedback suggesting large geographical variation in the range of damage levels reported. Salmon farming installations are also increasingly being targeted by seals, with significant losses due to seal depredation being reported. In the absence of robust data on seal depredation, the extent to which changes in fishing gear and practices have reduced damage levels, or resulted in displacement of seal foraging effort, is unknown. Recommendations are made to suggest how research efforts should be focused to address critical data gaps identified in the study.     

Social,economic and environmental effects of closing commercial fisheries to enhance recreational fishing

Recreational fishing mortality can have a major impact on coastal fish populations, bringing recreational fishers into conflict with commercial fisheries. This article reviews exclusion zones for commercial fishing, or ‘recreational fishing areas’ as a solution to the conflict between commercial and recreational fisheries. Recently designated recreational fishing areas in the state of Queensland, Australia are examined as a case-study. The goal of recreational fishing areas is to enhance recreational fishing and provide economic opportunities through charter fishing. However, recently designated recreational fishing areas in Queensland have not been thoroughly assessed for their social, economic and environmental impacts and they are not integrated within existing management frameworks for fisheries. The designation of recreational fishing areas is thus a shift away from evidence-based management in Queensland's fisheries and has likely occurred solely for political reasons – there are more voters in the recreational fishery than commercial fishery. In Queensland, excluding commercial fishing on its own is unlikely to result in long-term benefits to recreational fisheries because recreational harvest is a major component of fish harvest for some key species and there is no legislated limit to recreational harvest. Current political attention on recreational fishing areas provides an opportunity for fisheries managers, politicians, conservation groups and the public to discuss what is needed to manage sustainable coastal fisheries. In particular, recreational fishing areas need to be combined with efforts to enhance stewardship among recreational fishers if they are to be successful in the long-term.