http://www.pinnipeds.org/species/harp.htm
I invite everyone to read this most informative document. It is full of
science on the hunt. There does not appear to be any scientific basis for
culling the harp seal and what evidence there is suggests that culling of
the seal may be 'detrimental' to the once valuable north Atlantic cod
stocks. Scientists have found 170 species of fish and aquatic species in
the stomachs of the harp seal. The seal preys on small fish. Reason cited
was overfishing and discarding of small cod overboard, contaminating the
genetic stock. Possibly recently overfishing of the forage fish which the
cod feed on. The sealing results in hundreds of thousands of animals killed
and left to rot because there is not much market for them. And other
horrible facts including the fact that both the Canadian government and the
Norweigen government subsidize the sealing.
The issue is definately an environmental issue and an ethical one.
John
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