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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 84 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 84

    Urging the Government of Canada to end the commercial seal hunt.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 24, 2009

    Mr. Levin (for himself and Ms. Collins) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
    Urging the Government of Canada to end the commercial seal hunt.

Whereas the Government of Canada permits an annual commercial hunt for seals in 
        the waters off the east coast of Canada;
Whereas an international outcry regarding the plight of the seals hunted in 
        Canada resulted in the 1983 ban by the European Union of whitecoat and 
        blueback seal skins and the subsequent collapse of the commercial seal 
        hunt in Canada;
Whereas the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) bars 
        the import into the United States of any seal products;
Whereas, in recent years, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada has 
        authorized historically high quotas for harp seals;
Whereas more than 1,000,000 seals have been killed during the past 4 years;
Whereas harp seal pups can legally be hunted in Canada as soon as they have 
        begun to molt their white coats, at approximately 12 days of age;
Whereas 97 percent of the seals killed are pups between just 12 days and 12 
        weeks of age;
Whereas, in 2007, an international panel of experts in veterinary medicine and 
        zoology was invited by the Humane Society of the United States to 
        observe the commercial seal slaughter in Canada;
Whereas the report by the panel noted that sealers failed to comply with sealing 
        regulations in Canada and that officials of the Government of Canada 
        failed to enforce such regulations;
Whereas the report also concluded that the killing methods permitted during the 
        commercial seal hunt in Canada are inherently inhumane and should be 
        prohibited;
Whereas many seals are shot in the course of the hunt and escape beneath the ice 
        where they die slowly and are never recovered;
Whereas such seals are not properly counted in official kill statistics, 
        increasing the likelihood that the actual kill level is far higher than 
        the level that is reported;
Whereas the few thousand fishermen who participate in the commercial seal hunt 
        in Canada earn, on average, only a tiny fraction of their annual income 
        from killing seals;
Whereas members of the fishing and sealing industries in Canada continue to 
        justify the seal hunt on the grounds that the seals in the Northwest 
        Atlantic are preventing the recovery of cod stocks, despite the lack of 
        any credible scientific evidence to support this claim;
Whereas the consensus in the international scientific community is that culling 
        seals will not assist in the recovery of fish stocks and that seals are 
        a vital part of the fragile marine ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic;
Whereas polling consistently shows that the overwhelming majority of people in 
        Canada oppose the commercial seal hunt;
Whereas the vast majority of seal products are exported from Canada, and the 
        sealing industry relies on international markets for its products;
Whereas 10 countries have prohibited trade in seal products in recent years, and 
        the European Union is now considering a prohibition on trade in seal 
        products; and
Whereas the persistence of this cruel and needless commercial hunt is 
        inconsistent with the well-earned international reputation of Canada: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) urges the Government of Canada to prohibit the 
        commercial hunting of seals; and
            (2) strongly supports an unconditional prohibition by the 
        European Union on trade in seal products.
                                 <all>
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