EU seal ban causing more harm than good, says Swedish researcher

A Swedish researcher says the European Union's ban on the import and sale of all seal products has caused more harm than good, and now is the time to lift the 15-year-old ban. 

Sven-Gunnar Lunneryd, who researches aquatic resources at the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences, says ending the ban would help seal hunters and restore depleted fish stocks. 

His research demonstrates that in the Baltic Sea, where the grey seal population has recently increased rapidly, having a negative impact coastal fisheries in the region. 

"We maybe need to half the seal population to get the chance for depleted fish stocks to recover," said Lunneryd. 

Lunneryd said seal hunters can help decrease the seal population and that lifting the ban would give them a financial incentive to do so.

He also said it's unethical to hunt seals and throw out the carcass, so it's important that seal hunters can sell their catch. 

"Seal hunting is not an easy task. It costs a lot of money to perform," said Lunneryd. "There needs [to be] some economic compensation to the hunters for doing the hunt in [an] efficient way."

In 2009, the EU was motivated by animal welfare groups to ban the import and sale of seal products, including oil, meat and furs. 

Danita Catherine Burke, author of the book Cultural Violence, Stigma and the Legacy of the Anti-Sealing Movement, said that the anti-sealing movement has been detrimental to Newfoundland and Labrador. 

She said misrepresentations of the seal-hunt in documentaries in the 1960s spearheaded the anti-sealing movement. For example, the biggest misconception is that seals were skinned alive, she said. 

"It's left a sour taste and a negative legacy that's lasted to this day," said Burke. "We cannot seem to get past that monumental piece of misinformation."

Burke said it's important to talk about the impacts of the anti-sealing movement right now. 

"Newfoundland and Labrador is such a unique place with all of this wind energy talk for the first time, and as long as I can remember we have leverage with the European Union and the European market," Burke said.

"They need us. So we should be asking for something in return. And I think an easy and first fundamental step would be asking them to withdraw from their moral outrage."