EU bans seal imports from Canada

In case you have missed it. The European Parliament just approved an almost complete ban ban on the trade of seal products in the European Union

Texts and amendments

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.js...amp;language=en

Press Release

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/.../default_en.htm

That obnoxious Canadian seal hunt is now a step closer to extinction. Good news are hard to come by these days but once in a while...

I wouldn't celebrate too soon as Canada and Norway have indicated they will seek redress at the World Trade Organization. This isn't over yet.

Also, a limited seal hunt will be allowed for Inuit cultures from Canada, Greenland, and elsewhere to continue their hunting practices but only on a smaller scale. Small scale hunts to manage the seal population will also be allowed under the law but the seal products from those hunts will not be allowed in the E.U.

It will be interesting to see how this will affect trade talks between Canada and the E.U. aimed at strengthening free trade amongst the two parties.

The EU will ban seal imports from Canada beginning 2010. The multi-million trade has been an PR sore eye for the Canadian government as it allows the culling of 300,000 seals a year. IFAW, Sea Shepard,Greenpeace and other NGOs have mounted campaigns for years to stop the seal hunt.

With this ban, the Canadian seal market will lose a large chunk of the export markets. A similar ban in the 80s hit the Inuit Seal pelt market hard. The cull is supposedly done to manage the dwindling cod stocks in the Atlantic, which was proven to be false as the harp seals do not eat cod as their primary food source.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8171490.stm

Ironically, seal hunts on a much smaller scale are conducted in the UK, Sweden and Finland. They do so to manage competition for fish stocks (hmmm a picture is forming about overfishing, perhaps?). I wonder if the starving Polar Bears can be relocated to the harp seal areas.

I'm afraid, this is old news.

This was alluded to during the last round of elections for the European Parliament.

The closing of the Canadian seal products market to the EU will put a dent of about 30% of total sales into the seal product market, but it will not close the market down. As Canada has already said, it will appeal to the WTO, so the issue won't be a dead one for a while.

What will be interesting is, to see how this affects trade negotiations between Canada and the EU in pursuing a closer economic partnership, which has been going on for the last three or four years. Both partners in the negotiations stand to benefit hugely from the talks if they are successful.