III
Calendar No. 57
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 84
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 24, 2009
Mr. Levin (for himself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Menendez, and Mr. Kerry) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
May 7, 2009
Reported by Mr. Kerry, without amendment
RESOLUTION
Urging the Government of Canada to end the commercial seal hunt.
Whereas the Government of Canada permits an annual commercial hunt for seals in the waters off the east coast of Canada;
Whereas an international outcry regarding the plight of the seals hunted in Canada resulted in the 1983 ban by the European Union of whitecoat and blueback seal skins and the subsequent collapse of the commercial seal hunt in Canada;
Whereas the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) bars the import into the United States of any seal products;
Whereas, in recent years, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada has authorized historically high quotas for harp seals;
Whereas more than 1,000,000 seals have been killed during the past 4 years;
Whereas harp seal pups can legally be hunted in Canada as soon as they have begun to molt their white coats, at approximately 12 days of age;
Whereas 97 percent of the seals killed are pups between just 12 days and 12 weeks of age;
Whereas, in 2007, an international panel of experts in veterinary medicine and zoology was invited by the Humane Society of the United States to observe the commercial seal slaughter in Canada;
Whereas the report by the panel noted that sealers failed to comply with sealing regulations in Canada and that officials of the Government of Canada failed to enforce such regulations;
Whereas the report also concluded that the killing methods permitted during the commercial seal hunt in Canada are inherently inhumane and should be prohibited;
Whereas many seals are shot in the course of the hunt and escape beneath the ice where they die slowly and are never recovered;
Whereas such seals are not properly counted in official kill statistics, increasing the likelihood that the actual kill level is far higher than the level that is reported;
Whereas the few thousand fishermen who participate in the commercial seal hunt in Canada earn, on average, only a tiny fraction of their annual income from killing seals;
Whereas members of the fishing and sealing industries in Canada continue to justify the seal hunt on the grounds that the seals in the Northwest Atlantic are preventing the recovery of cod stocks, despite the lack of any credible scientific evidence to support this claim;
Whereas the consensus in the international scientific community is that culling seals will not assist in the recovery of fish stocks and that seals are a vital part of the fragile marine ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic;
Whereas polling consistently shows that the overwhelming majority of people in Canada oppose the commercial seal hunt;
Whereas the vast majority of seal products are exported from Canada, and the sealing industry relies on international markets for its products;
Whereas 10 countries have prohibited trade in seal products in recent years, and the European Union is now considering a prohibition on trade in seal products; and
Whereas the persistence of this cruel and needless commercial hunt is inconsistent with the well-earned international reputation of Canada: Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate—
urges the Government of Canada to prohibit the commercial hunting of seals; and
strongly supports an unconditional prohibition by the European Union on trade in seal products.
May 7, 2009
Reported without amendment