Attacking the Fishers

The annual seal hunt has begun and so has the propaganda war of the Anti-Seal Hunt foes.

The opponents of the seal hunt belittle and demonize the Fishers in Newfoundland and Labrador. Forgetting that native fishers also hunt seals.

Once again the Green NGO lobby against the seal hunt focuses on attacking workers not the government. And in attacking the fishers they attempt to make them appear less than human, less moral, less concerned about the environment than the nice folks who oppose the seal hunt.

In other words shameless propaganda that hopes to appeal to the reader to show what a backward dull witted people the fishers are.

As a fashion writer who has campaigned against the resurgence of fur on the catwalk, the scenes I witnessed during my time in Canada sickened and appalled me.

I really don't know how this practice can be called a "hunt". (At least foxes can run: seal pups can't even crawl.)

And actually, when I speak to one of the fishermen, he calls it a "harvest".

"Seals are like fish," he said. "There is no difference."

This is plainly ridiculous.

Seals are intelligent, inquisitive creatures. Watch them through a hole in the ice and they do a double-take when they spot you, and return, moments later, to stare with inquisitive eyes.

One seal claws at the ice as it tries to escape

Yet to the fisherman around the coast of Newfoundland, they are simply a threat to local fish stocks; a menace to be eradicated by any means possible.

I wish I could say such callous indifference was surprising. But even before I had been flown over the ice, the hypocrisy of the Canadian government had already prepared me for what lay ahead.

See:

A Word From Our Sealers

Not So Cute Seals

Seals Threaten Fish

Royal Newfoundlanders Died For the Seal Hunt

Your Anti-Sealing Donation At Work

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
seals, sealing, seal-hunt, anti-sealing, Newfoundland, Canada, Watson, HSUS, IFAW, Nova Scotia, cod, fish, grey seal, fishers, fishermen,