Michael Bernard

Save baby seals!

In just a few weeks, Canada’s commercial seal hunt will begin again and tens of thousands of seal pups—98% of them less than three months old—will be shot at and clubbed for their fur. Wounded animals will escape and die slowly. Others will be impaled on metal hooks, dragged onto bloody boat decks, and beaten to death.  

If the sealing industry has its way, millions more will die like this in the coming years.  

For decades seals have been blamed for the decline in valuable fish stocks when in fact this issue is caused largely by overfishing and the mismanagement of fisheries. In recent months this cycle has continued with the Canadian government and sealing industry representatives calling for the commercial seal hunt to be vastly expanded. These hunts are particularly alarming in light of climate change, which is quickly destroying the sea ice habitat of seals. 

The U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act has been a lifesaving measure for seals in Canada. In prohibiting trade in seal products, the Act cuts off a crucial market for the Canadian sealing industry. But it goes even further by blocking the import of seafood from fisheries that kill seals in excess of U.S. standards. This makes the MMPA one of the most important laws in the world in blocking attempts to kill hundreds of thousands of baby seals each year.

Please urge NOAA Fisheries to continue to strongly enforce this critical law – and thank them for safeguarding vulnerable marine mammal populations in the United States and around the world. 

This action alert is for U.S. residents. International advocates, please visit Humane Society International.

Your Message

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Dear

NOAA

Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries

I am writing to urge you to strongly enforce the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is saving millions of baby seals in Canada from a horrific fate. 
  
Even though climate change is already causing an alarming decline in seal populations Canadian government representatives support expanding the commercial sealing industry and have called for annual seal kill levels as high as 600,000. 

The United States is Canada’s most important trading partner, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prevents trade in seal products, has been a critical measure in preserving seal populations over the past half-century. In addition to prohibiting trade in seal products, the MMPA prevents imports of seafood from fisheries that kill seals in excess of U.S. standards. Because sealers are commercial fishermen who earn only a tiny fraction of their income from killing seals, and the majority from exporting seafood to the U.S., the MMPA holds considerable power to save seals. 

The world community—including a majority of Canadians—has soundly rejected the commercial slaughter of baby seals. Yet the slaughter continues for a variety of political reasons, even as the seals contend with the rapidly accelerating impacts of climate change on their sea ice habitat. 

The Marine Mammal Protection Act is one of the most important measures in the world protecting seals in Canada right now. I am very grateful for the MMPA, and urge you to continue to strongly enforce this critical law on behalf of all Americans who want to protect seals for future generations.

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