ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Tense times are ahead for Canada's sealing industry as the European Union grapples with its proposed seal products ban, beginning with a vote Monday that could determine the parameters of the legislation.
A 44-member committee of various political persuasions will meet in Brussels to decide whether to implement a labelling and certification system that would allow the import of seal products, as long as they were hunted in a humane manner.
That will be followed by a vote set for early April by European parliamentarians, who harbour a wide range of opinions on the emotionally charged issue.
Canadian fisheries ambassador Loyola Sullivan concedes there will be some type of ban, but whether Canadian seal pelts and other products will be exempt from it is still up for debate.
"If anyone thinks that in Europe that they're going to have no ban and they don't want to see this proceed, they're going to be sadly mistaken," Sullivan said in an interview.
"I think it's fair to say that the will -- certainly the public in Europe, the will of parliamentarians and member states -- is (in favour of) some type of ban."
Canadian politicians, including Sullivan and federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, have met with their European counterparts in recent weeks in an effort to convince them that the commercial harp seal hunt is humane.
Shea said it's too early to say whether the federal government would support a labelling and certification system.
"It depends what the clause looks like," she said.
"If there's something that we can live with, then we'll be OK with that. But if this inhibits our hunt at all, then no, it's not something that we can live with."
Voicing the frustration of some sealers, Jack Troake says it's difficult to make the hunt appear more humane because of its very nature.
Off the north coast of Newfoundland, where the majority of seals are killed each year, most hunters use rifles. But the hakapik is also sometimes used to help kill seals wounded by rifle fire.
"There's no way in God's world can you carry on this hunt and make it look nice," Troake said.
He said he is uncertain how a labelling and certification system would affect his 58-year livelihood.
"We're all very concerned."
Barbara Slee, a full-time campaigner for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Brussels, said labelling and certification is fraught with problems.
"In practice, it would be impossible to enforce," Slee said.
"You can't verify whether a seal product really comes from a seal that was humanely killed."
Slee and other animal welfare activists are calling for an outright ban that would prevent the import of all seal products, except those hunted by the Inuit.
The EU's proposed legislation aims to harmonize a patchwork of laws among several member countries that ban seal products.
It would allow the import of seal products from countries that can guarantee their hunting practices are "consistent with high animal-welfare standards" and that the animals are killed swiftly without undue suffering. Special exemptions would be allowed for Canada's Inuit.
The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the proposed ban April 2. The European Council would then cast its decision on the matter, likely in June.
An import ban could deliver a devastating blow to Atlantic Canadian fishermen who rely on the annual hunt as a source of income, shutting down critical shipment points including Holland and Germany.
Canada's largest markets for seal products, such as Russia, China and Norway, are outside the EU. But sealing industry experts fear a ban would curb the demand for seal fur from the fashion industry and disrupt shipping routes.
Ottawa estimates the EU ban could cut in half the $13 million annual value of the seal hunt to some 6,000 sealers in the country.
In the past three years, the total allowable catch in Canada has hovered between 270,000 and 335,000 seals annually. It is the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world.
Shea is expected to announce this year's seal hunt quota by the middle of this month.
