MEPS HAVE voted to ban the import of seal products into the EU in a move that could threaten the future of the annual seal hunt and prompt a trade dispute with Canada.
The vote follows years of lobbying by animal rights groups, which claim the clubbing to death of seals in Canada, Greenland, Namibia and Norway is inhumane.
“We as citizens have now the opportunity to ban this cruel trade. I know that this will be applauded by the citizens of Europe,” said British MEP Arlene McCarthy, chairwoman of the European Parliament’s internal market committee, which helped to draft the legislation.
MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of a regulation that will impose strict conditions on the sale of seal products in Europe. There were 550 votes for the ban, 49 against and 41 abstentions.
A derogation will be applied for products that result from traditional hunts by indigenous communities such as the Inuit community in northern Canada.
Smallscale hunts to help control the seal population can also avail of the derogation.
Canada’s east-coast seal hunt is the biggest in the world, accounting for the deaths of 300,000 harp seals a year.
In 2006 Canada exported about $5.5 million (€4.1 million) worth of seal products such as pelts, meat and oils to the EU.
Ottawa has lobbied furiously to prevent a trade ban being imposed and has threatened to take a case to the World Trade Organisation, arguing that it breaches global trade rules. Ironically, the EU and Canada are expected to begin talks on a wideranging free-trade deal at a summit today in Prague.
The EU ban is expected to come into force in 2010 following approval by member states, which along with Ireland have signalled they will support the regulations.
“In Europe they slaughter animals in a slaughterhouse, which is basically the same thing. Does this mean all slaughterhouses should be closed down?” said Bernard Guimont, a Canadian seal processor who travelled to Strasbourg yesterday to lobby against the ban.
Canadian fishermen and hunters claim the ban will result in a surge in the seal population, which could undermine fish stocks and the fragile environment in the Arctic. Inuits, who will benefit from the derogation written into the EU regulation, oppose the ban, which they have described as “cultural imperialism”. “This could prove to be a catastrophe for Inuit people. The derogations will not be enough to protect our communities,” said Meeka Mike, an Inuit from northeast Canada.
“This ban is not about the betterment of animals. It’s about politicians getting re-elected.”
Fianna Fáil MEP Seán Ó Neachtain, who sits on the parliament’s Canada committee, said he voted against the ban because it would have a devastating impact on Inuit communities. But he said he did not support cruelty to animals in any way.
Humane Society International, an animal rights group, welcomed the result of the vote. “This ban spells the beginning of the end of Canada’s globally condemned seal slaughter,” said the society’s director, Rebecca Aldworth.