Seals getting world wide media

Kamloops Daily News

by Michele Young
Daily News Staff Reporter

July 15, 2006

Seals do not deplete cod or salmon stocks; rather, they eat the
predatory fish that go after the cod and salmon on Canada's east and
west coasts.

Only three per cent of seals' diets are made up of salmon on the
West Coast and cod on the East Coast, which quashes arguments by
sealers that they need to kill hundreds of thousands of the mammals
to protect fish stocks, says Vancouver-based animal activist Anthony
Marr.

"The government never, ever talks about that," he said.

Marr stopped in Kamloops Friday en route from Vancouver to Calgary,
where he had organized a weekend Funeral March for the Slaughtered.
He's just started a five-month road tour throughout Canada and the
U.S. to call for a halt to hunting of seals, as well as bears,
tigers, dolphins and whales.

Marr said seals feed on about 20 species of fish, including many who
eat cod or salmon. It isn't as basic as seals eat cod, therefore
killing the seals will increase cod stocks, he argued.

"The food web is not that simple."

In fact, Marr said, he has studied numbers that show when seal
numbers drop, so do those of cod and salmon because their predators
increase in population.

The East Coast harp-seal hunt gives Canada a bad name
internationally and sees 325,000 of the animals killed each year. If
those meter-long seals were lined up, they would stretch from
Kamloops to Vancouver, he noted.

The 62-year-old was with the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and
formed his own small group: HOPE-CARE Foundation (Heal Our Planet
Earth & Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions) in 1999.

It¹s a group that's designed to be small, to keep overhead down and
donations focused on helping animals, he said. Everyone with HOPE-
CARE is an unpaid volunteer, including Marr himself.

Marr networks with other animal-rights agencies and supporters when
he's on a road tour. This latest one is his fourth (CARE-4).

When he left Vancouver Thursday, he had a tank of gas and no money
in his pocket. He often stays with other animal activists; in fact,
on a previous three-month tour (CARE-3), he didn't stay in a hotel
once.

"People treat me like a prince wherever I go," he said. "They house
me and feed me and offer enough donations for gas."

Marr said it's easier to sell Canadians on banning tiger hunting
because they aren't directly affected. Just as it's easier to sell
those in the west that the eastern harp-seal hunt should be stopped
than it is to convince
those in the Atlantic.

Having foreign celebrities such as Bridgit Bardot and Paul McCartney
coming to Canada to demand the seal hunt be stopped gets great
response outside of the country, but is met with resentment within,
he said.

To many Canadians, it amounts to some foreigner coming in and
telling us what to do, Marr said. The federal government recognized
that as a chance to score points, and it tried to do just that, he
said.

"The government played that to the hilt."

He wants to make it become an election issue, because that's the
only way that political parties could oppose the massacre, he said.
To push for that, he campaigns outisde of Canada.

Preem keeps golf score to himself
http://thechroniclehe...

By AMY SMITH The Howe Room

PREMIER Rodney MacDonald looked a bit like a golf pro Wednesday when he entered the Fairmont Newfoundland for a meeting of Canada?s premiers and territorial leaders in St. John?s, but it sure doesn?t sound as if he played like one.

Mr. MacDonald, fresh off a plane from Corner Brook, where the leaders played the Humber Valley Resort golf course, entered the hotel wearing slacks, a golf shirt and navy blue windbreaker bearing the logo of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs. He, like the other premiers, sat at a formal desk to sign in while a gaggle of photographers snapped his picture.

When asked how he played on the course, he said:

"We made it through 18 holes. It was my first game of the year."

The goodie bag for the provincial leaders and their staff contained wool roll-neck sweaters similar to the one worn by Kevin Spacey in the movie The Shipping News. The Quoyle Sweater, designed and knitted by a local company, normally retails for close to $200.

Members of the media weren?t left out. Reporters received navy blue fleeces with the Newfoundland and Labrador logo below the back of the collar.



Premier Danny Williams hosted a gala dinner at the St. John?s Convention Centre on Thursday night. He kicked off the night with a tribute to outgoing Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, who was attending his last premiers meeting.

"When I grow up, I want to be Ralph Klein," the Newfoundlander told the audience.

Mr. Williams then recounted his recent appearance on CNN with Larry King, during which the premier sparred with former Beatle Paul McCartney over the seal hunt.

Mr. Williams praised Mr. Klein for his many accomplishments during his nearly 14 years as Alberta premier. He then presented Mr. Klein with a sealskin jacket.

"A kingly product for a kingly premier," Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Klein proudly donned the jacket and told the crowd that his hairdresser in Calgary is also from the Rock, and she always says: "Danny, he?s a cute little bugger."

The premiers and other guests then got down to eating, starting off with Newfoundland smoked salmon on a bed of greens and then an impressive main course of pepper-crusted beef tenderloin with wild mushrooms topped with grilled lobster tails poached in garlic basil butter over buttermilk mashed potatoes. The hefty meal was finished with white-chocolate hazelnut mousse with a chocolate sail, fresh berries and cream.

Comedian and political satirist Rick Mercer, a son of Newfoundland, then took the stage, sharing some of his favourite clips from This Hour has 22 Minutes ? including his infamous sit-down with then-prime minister Jean Chretien over burgers at an Ottawa Harvey?s ? as well as segments from his popular Talking to Americans and a visit he and the This Hour crew paid to Canadian peacekeepers in Bosnia.

And if the politicians still hadn?t gotten into the Newfoundland spirit, Great Big Sea made them remember that this was indeed the Rock, much to the delight of fan Sasha Irving (otherwise known as spokeswoman for Premier MacDonald).


The NDP?s communications staff is shrinking.

Last week, we told you Barbara Emodi, the caucus?s director of communications, was taking a year?s leave to go teach public relations at Mount Saint Vincent University.

This week, spokeswoman Krista Spurr said she was leaving to pursue other work in communications and media relations.

The N-Dipper caucus office said the media relations position has changed its focus to rural media, in light of the election of more non-metro MLAs.

Record year projected for seal hunt, but protesters downplay estimates

Tara Brautigam, Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, August 02, 2006
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - Despite fierce clashes between sealers and protesters and humanitarian appeals from high-profile celebrities, this year's East Coast seal hunt is expected to be the most lucrative ever, federal Fisheries officials say.
The landed value of the spring hunt is expected to range between $25 million and $30 million, said Phil Jenkins, a spokesman with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. That would nearly double last year's landed value of $16.5 million.

"It's probably mostly reflected in the increased price of pelts," Jenkins said Wednesday in an interview from Ottawa.

Pelts fetched record prices this year, with buyers paying up to $105 a pelt, compared to $40 to $70 last year, he said.

The department is still compiling a final tally, but federal estimates show that 327,000 seals were killed - slightly above the commercial quota of 325,000.

Those figures could change before a final report is issued in several months, Jenkins said, adding that next year's total allowable catch would be reduced if a final tally shows the hunt exceeded this year's quota.

A mild winter, which reduced spring ice cover on the Gulf of St. Lawrence by as much as 50 per cent, was a boon to sealers because it allowed them to get closer to the pups, said Roger Simon, area manager for the Fisheries Department in Iles de la Madeleine, Que.

Rebecca Aldworth of the Humane Society of the United States downplayed federal estimates showing a record-breaking year for the industry.

"This is something that they've said every year over the past few years, that it's the most lucrative on record, that skin prices are hitting record highs," said Aldworth, director of Canadian wildlife issues for the organization.

"The problem I have is that there's never any proof provided of that. There's never any published price lists from the processing companies."

Contrary to claims that demand for seal pelts is booming, markets in Europe are shutting down, Aldworth added.

This year's seal hunt was one of the most turbulent in decades. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney made a highly publicized visit to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, calling for an end to the slaughter of young seals, and Brigitte Bardot re-emerged as a voice against the hunt.

Out on the ice, the presence of protesters was beyond toleration for some sealers who resorted to flinging seal guts at observers and, in several cases, attempting to ram the small, inflatable vessels used by protesters and news reporters.

Five animal-rights activists were accused of violating their observer permits by getting too close to a sealing vessel in the gulf, but they were never charged with any offences.

Federal officials have said they will review the rules governing the annual hunt, indicating there could be new restrictions placed on hunt observers.

Much of the demand for seal pelts is coming from Russia and China, Simon said.



More than 6,000 Atlantic Canadians were actively involved in the hunt.

http://www.canada.com...

Sealer charged 16 months after hunt
Last Updated: Thursday, August 10, 2006 | 4:33 PM AT
CBC News
A Newfoundland sealing captain wants to know why it took 16 months for RCMP in P.E.I. to lay an assault charge against him in connection with the 2005 seal hunt.

Police allege Dwight Lyman Spence, 54, of Port Au Choix, N.L., swung his hakapik at a man during the hunt. The alleged victim said the weapon hit him in the arm and damaged his camera. Police say his injuries were not serious.



Dwight Spence intends to plead not guilty to the charge.
(CBC)
"Here we are going on to a year and a half and I don't know what happened," Spence told CBC News Thursday. "Never heard a sound about it until within the last month or so."

Spence said he intends to plead not guilty.

"We were on our way back to the boat with seals and I must say ? and I'll defend myself in that matter ? we had to push our way through them to get back to the boat," he said. "You know I had a million dollar boat tied onto the ice and I wasn't going to allow those fellows to keep me from it."

RCMP Sgt. Dave Thibeau said the charge was a long time coming because of the difficulty of interviewing people who had come from all over the world to observe the hunt.

"These investigations are very complex," Thibeau said.

"During the sealing season we have people who come to the shores of P.E.I. from across P.E.I., across Canada, across the world. So this investigation led us to a number of people across the world. Trying to contact these people does take some time."

Thibeau said RCMP received seven complaints during the 2005 seal hunt, which was close to Island shores and therefore were in the P.E.I. jurisdiction. Most were assaults, but there was one complaint of animal cruelty.

Spence is scheduled to appear in court in Georgetown on Oct. 12.

Federal fisheries minister invites European Parliament to observe seal hunt
13:01:27 EDT Sep 1, 2006
Canadian Press
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - Canada's fisheries minister has chosen a novel way to persuade politicians in Belgium to reconsider a plan to ban imports of Newfoundland seal products.

Loyola Hearn, in Brussels this week to meet with the European Union's fisheries commissioner to discuss foreign overfishing, said he reminded the Belgians of the many Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in Belgium during the First World War.

The Newfoundland MP said an import ban would amount to "taking the livelihood away from a number of Canadians whose family members left their blood on the fields here in Belgium, Flanders fields and other places.

"That got their attention," he told St. John's radio station VOCM. "But the thing is they are looking much more seriously at what we're saying and have agreed to look for the facts."

Hearn said he extended an invitation to members of the European Parliament to visit Canada and learn more about the seal hunt.

"I've sort of challenged them to look for the truth, for the facts, and to visit Canada to make up their own minds. Don't base their decisions on . . . what they heard and seen from lobby groups who are using 20-year-old videos."

Hearn said he raised the issue of the seal hunt after he learned that members of the Belgian Parliament were in the process of introducing legislation to ban the importation of seal products.

"Hearn invites European Parliament to observe seal hunt"
Federal fisheries minister says he used European trip to remind
Belgians of Canadian sacrifices during wartime
<http://www.theglobean....