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Annual seal hunt is Canada's shame
Magwang
Veteran
I'm proud to be Canadaian - except for this. There's no reason for it other than to create jobs. I don't buy the argument that seals eat all the fish - mismanagement killed all the Cod stocks, not seals.
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Comments
We have a similar situation here in Oregon where Federal fisheries managers have given permission to Oregon and Washington officials to trap and, if necessary, kill sea lions because of their feeding habits, e.g., they eat thousands of salmon at Bonneville Dam every year (source). What is worse is that the real problem stems from things such as clear-cut logging, industrial pollution, agricultural water usage, and the dams themselves, which kill off large numbers of salmon, disrupt their spawning migrations, et cetera. It's a quick fix that doesn't even target the real problems, and better still, this desision to kill innocent seals for simply trying to survive is considered to be effective "management" of the declining salmon population.
Jason
when we finally blow ourselves to kingdom-come, Nature will then settle, and take her rightful place, and re-build...
I'm convinced of it.
Here! Here! Bushi!
We've F**ked up this planet, now let's go and colonise another one, and jam that one up too. :rolleyes: :crazy:
And then I think if they were slugs or something not cute and appealing, would I be so angry? And then I feel shallow.
I've signed the petitions, I've sent the letters .... nothing happens. Once the Old Feller is gone to his next happy place I will have to buy a small boat and be a little old lady making a solo protest .... and THAT won't have any effect except to get some media attention for ten minutes.
A little trivia; Paul Watson (founder of The Sea Shepherds, a very...um...how shall I say it..."forceful" environmental organization) was still working for Greenpeace at the time of the one and only direct action protest by Greenpeace against the seal hunt back in the 70's. Rumour has it that he got fired from Greenpeace for lifting his arm as if to strike one of the hunters who was trying to remove him from of the ice floes. He never actually struck anyone and the pictures of the incident look more like he's trying to pull his arm away from the hunter who's grabbing him. Nonetheless, Greenpeace was, and still is, super strict about any kind of violence, even the slightest appearance of violence, and Paul Watson and Greenpeace parted ways soon after that incident. Greenpeace also suffered terribly for getting involved in the seal hunt that one time and although they never again campaigned against it, their profile was so high in the public's mind they were mistakenly believed to have been a part of subsequent protests by any and all animal rights organizations even though they weren't actually there at all.
Personal note:
I have a video taped copy of a seal hunter skinning a mother seal alive while her pup is watching and crying out pitifully. It's footage from that one protest by Greenpeace in the 70's and had I been there I don't know how successful I would have been in upholding the "peace" part of Greenpeace. I probably would have been driven out of my mind with rage and thrown myself at the hunter. The hunt is so obviously, unequivocally, completely and undeniably WRONG on so many levels that the fact it's been allowed to continue to this day is a national shame.
Is there any organised protest this year?
Personally, I think IFAW is an absolutely wonderful organization and whenever I have a few extra dollars I send them along to those good people. The work they do, and have done, is astounding.
For advanced as humanity is - we act like parasites.
Through our lack of caring and compassion - we use our resources thinking only of ourselves or for the almighty, corporate dollar. For the few that care - there are the many that don't.
We'd either start screwing up whatever other planet we migrate to (because once again, we think we'll fix something in an environment we JUST ended up on - one which we have NO IDEA how intricate it is - but it won't stop us from coming up with some dumbass idea on how to fix something we know nothing of - just to find we've screwed it up!) or lose all interest and lay waste to the planet we just left.
I'm cynical today. Guess I need more coffee.
-bf
Palzang
Only if we're all dead...
Palzang
I think most of the environmental damage to this planet has actually occurred in the last 200 years, mostly since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It doesn't take long to mismanage and destroy one's environment.
You saved me having to type the same thing. We did really good until about the last 200 or 300 years.
Then we went to Hell in a hand basket.
-bf
P.S. Light reading...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Beach,_Missouri
Palzang
Palzang
Palzang
Palzang
Palzang
A thought, perhaps what we're going through with global warming is so we can learn how to manage the climates of inhospitable planets and terraform them.
Palzang
At least that's what I've read...
-bf
Here is a letter I wrote to my representative:
As a citizen of Portland, Oregon, I would like to voice my deep concern
over an issue that is important to me and others of my community in the
hope that you will take action-I would like to address is the plight of
the sea lions at Bonneville Dam. While I understand that salmon is a
valuable resource of Oregon, as well as the Pacific Northwest in
general, that fact alone does not seem like a reasonable enough argument
to kill innocent sea lions that are doing nothing more than attempting
to feed themselves. It seems to me that instead of addressing the real
issues at hand, the sea lions have become an easy scapegoat.
As a concerend citizen looking into this issue, I have come to the
conclusion that the main causes of the declining salmon population
include, but are not limited to, agricultural and industrial water
pollution, agricultural water usage, dams that disrupt migration routes,
and over fishing. These are things that are not only known to be harmful
to the salmon population, but they are things for which we are solely
responsible. The only thing that the sea lions are guilt of is
self-preservation. To kill these creatures seems like nothing more than
a quick fix, one that fails to address the true underlying causes of the
declining salmon population.
I am aware that many people depend upon salmon for their livelihood, and
I certainly advocate trying to protect them so that their numbers
improve; but we, as an intelligent species, need to face that fact that
deciding to kill innocent sea lions for simply trying to survive is not
effective "management" of the declining salmon population. If it were,
then by the same logic, we should go ahead and kill any other species
that prey upon salmon such as bears, osprey, otters, et cetera. I
realize that this program is being limited to certain key areas such as
the Bonneville Dam, but this still does not make it any more acceptable
to me or many other Oregonians.
Therefore, as a concerned citizen, I would like to petition you to do
whatever you can to (i) stop this barbaric practice and (ii) review the
real causes of the declining salmon population, e.g., agricultural and
industrial water pollution, agricultural water usage, clear-cut logging,
dams that disrupt migration routes, over fishing, et cetera. At the
very least, I think that doing everything to trap and relocate offending
sea lions [into the wild, not captivity] is a more humane option than
simply killing them. If there is anything that you are able to do to
help address this issue, I would strongly urge you to do so. Thank you
for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Jason M.
Here is the reply I received:
Thank you for taking the time to write Rep Rosenbaum about the
current sea lion situation at the Bonneville Dam. Last Wednesday, April
23rd, the Humane Society of the United States and the Wild Fish
Conservatory, after being turned down by a Portland judge, took their
case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued an injunction
blocking any killing. The judges scheduled a hearing on the case on May
8 in Pasadena, Calif. Currently no sea lions can be killed and only
trapping is allowed.
It is clear that there are more factors influencing the decline
of salmon than just sea lions. Salmon habitat has been continuously
altered by humans for decades and it is finally taking a noticeable toll
on local salmon populations. Rep Rosenbaum agrees that there needs to a
fundamental change in salmon management and habitat preservation. We
need to begin to truly address the negative impacts agriculture,
pollution, water runoff etc. have on salmon populations and look for
more expansive management practice than just removing the sea lions.
Again thank you for taking the time to write. Receiving such
comments assists in understanding the concerns of citizens in District
42. Please feel free to contact the office again regarding this or any
other issue.
All the best,
Megan Osborne
Staff to
Rep Diane Rosenbaum
Speaker Pro Tempore
District 42
If you can, find out wht the decision is on the 8th - that would be cool...
Thanks Jason.
Good idea, let's contract the work out to Halliburton, Bechtel and Blackwater.
::
Seriously though seals are cute so, we get angry. He is going to kill it in one hit it looks like which is nicer than they are to chickens and cattle in the USA being raised for food. I think this might be what cur was trying to convey.
As for humans destroying the plant and blah blah well that is human nature in my opinion and I accepted it long ago. I'm just sitting back watching the show seeing will mankind evolve (mentally) before he ends his own species? I have no emotional investment in it any more, I just find it interesting at this point. I think the answer is, probably not, although it maybe something else that wipes us out first.