Twenty six years ago the European Community banned the import of fur from baby harp and hooded seals, thanks to the European Parliament responding to public outcry over the clubbing to death of tens of thousands of the creatures on the ice floes off the east coast of Canada each spring.
Today, the Canadian seal hunt is worse than ever. It is the largest slaughter of marine mammals anywhere on the planet. Far more animals are being killed than prior to the European ban and many of the products of this carnage are still coming to Europe . The original ban only applied to 'whitecoat' harp seal and 'blueback' hooded seal fur. But harp seals - the main target of the hunt - begin to moult their white coats at around two weeks old so the sealers wait just a few days before killing and skinning the seals, to cynically get round the ban.
With another seal hunt due to start in Canada next month, Europe has an historic opportunity to close this loophole and bring in a comprehensive ban on the import and trade in all seal products once and for all.
This is not without precedent. The USA banned all seal imports back in 1972 and, within the EU, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Italy, Austria and Germany already have in place or are about to implement national bans. It is these European bans that form the basis of the draft legislation that MEPs now have before them. Moreover, last year the EU banned the import of dog and cat fur.
The European Commission's draft proposal is in response to a request made for an EU-wide ban on seal products that was signed by a record 425 MEPs in 2006. And it not just at EU level that there is clamour for a ban. In the House of Commons, an Early Day Motion, signed by more than 100 MPs, calls on the Government to "do all in its power, and in particular encourage our 78 MEPs to support this approach, to ensure that a complete EU ban comes into force as soon as possible".
The Commission, has tried to satisfy all interests including, regrettably, the sealers, by including an exemption that would allow seal imports to continue from countries that meet criteria for 'humane killing' of seals. This is fundamentally flawed. Commercial sealing is inherently inhumane and decades of tinkering with legislation by Canada has made little difference. The Canadian seal hunt takes place in a remote area the size of France , involves more than 1,000 small boats over a period of just a few days. Sealers race to kill as many seals as they can before the quota is met and government officials are incapable of monitoring what is happening in any meaningful fashion. Canada intends to bring in more rules in another cynical attempt to evade trade sanctions.
Despite the broad swathe of cross-party political support in favour of a ban within the European Parliament, some appear to have been taken in by lobbying by the Canadian government. Indeed, Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis, as Parliament's Rapporteur is proposing a labelling system for seal products. Her report will be voted in committee next week and is expected to come before the full Parliament in April.
This attempt to effectively neuter the ban is unacceptable. It is certainly not what the majority of the British population want, including Yorkshire : recent polling has revealed 83% support an end to the EU trade in seal products. The UK government has also been a staunch supporter of a complete EU ban on commercial seal products.
The concept of a labelling system is not only unworkable, but fundamentally flawed. Since there is no way to kill seals 'humanely', and grave difficulty monitoring a hunt that amounts to little more than a week long killing frenzy, such an approach is a confusing fudge. Supporters of a labelling system claim that they are protecting the Inuit peoples who hunt seals for subsistence purposes, ignoring the fact that the proposed legislation anyway states that they are automatically excluded from the scope of the proposal. The reality is that a labelling scheme would achieve little other than to allow the continued trade in products that most people want eliminated from the marketplace.
Until such a ban is in place we, in Europe , have the blood of those seals on our hands as it is the trade in products that fuels the carnage. As we approach yet another mass slaughter of seals we must have the courage of our convictions and deliver a full ban on commercial seal products before the June elections. Instead of giving in to a cop-out labelling system, we should take this historic opportunity and end once and for all this trade in animal cruelty.
This article was originally published by EU Observer in February 2009