In an extreme reach of the New World, on a rocky island at the eastern edge of the continental shelf, a tradition dating back to the region's first European settlers survives. Here in Newfoundland, after weathering decades of international controversy, sealers have resumed the large-scale hunt for harp seals. In all, nearly 10,000 licensed sealers have gone back to work, 8,400 from Newfoundland and the others from Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Today, sealing comprises a vital part of Newfoundland's sluggish economy. In 1996 alone it was worth in excess of $11 million, with seal products being sold in Canada, Norway and Asia. But sealing means more than commerce. It means tradition, a living link to the past
In the early 1800s, Newfoundland's rural men made annual treks to their capital, St. John's, to sign on as crew aboard sealing vessels. They endured brutal privations and poor wages to risk voyages to the Front, a vast region of patchy ice that forms each year in the treacherous waters offshore. The vessels were cramped and filthy. The only open space was out on the ice, where the men slushed among seals with clubs and claimed their prize.
By 1848 there were nearly 350 sealing vessels, and more than 500,000 pelts would often be taken in a year. The old sailing vessels gave way to wooden steamers, and then heavy steel-hulled ships. Two World Wars temporarily halted business, and then, after World War II, the modern hunt began to take shape.
Below: Salting Sealskins
A new breed of hunter emerged, called «landsmen», using
small boats with outboard motors to pursue the seals, while the simultaneous
modernisation of commercial fishing fleets meant that mediumsized fishing
vessels, called longliners, could make sustained trips to the Front. These
boats, many in the 50-foot class, are common today, usually equipped with
a speedboat as well. For many crews that lost their livelihoods following
the collapse of local cod stocks, seal hunts on longliners now mean a season
of work.
Yet to keep this work, Newfoundland's licensed sealers have had to endure years of scorn. Their struggle began in the 1970s, when images of battered whitecoats first splashed onto the international stage. By the mid-'80s, the outrage had peaked, markets were drying up, and the sealers had been all but driven out of business. Indeed, just the word «sealer» became a pejorative term in an increasingly urbarnised world.
The sealing industry fought back, and lost. But despite the bad press and interational outcry, they hung on. In Canada, hey were banned from harvesting whitecoats and bluebacks commercially, or using vessels larger than 65 feet.
In response, the sealers sought to preserve a smaller hunt for older seals, called «beaters», «bedlamers» or «old harps», depending on their age.
This hunt is not like the whitecoat hunt. Beaters are alert, free-swimming quarry, and today's sealers shoot the vast majority of their take with rifles. Throughout the late 1980s and early '90s, sealers sought to master the new skills required, while landing smaller catches and struggling to find international markets for the pelts.
Large-scale hunting resumed only in 1996, when over 242,000 harp seals and close to 26,000 hooded seals were taken. The finer pelts were sold to international furriers, with the remainder being used for goods such as gloves, briefcases and wallets. Seal meat is either eaten by the sealers (a particular delicacy is flipper pie) or canned. The penises of adult seals are sold to Asian markets, where they are powdered and used as aphrodisiacs
Not surprisingly, the hunt is again attracting controversy, with animal rights organisations accusing the hunters of exceeding their quotas and illegally killing pups. But to date, the Canadian government has stood behind the hunt, while investigating potential violations of the regulations. In 1996, the government laid over 100 charges against a small percentage of the sealers who 9 allegedly were selling, trading or bartering whitecoats and bluebacks.
The present level of catch is based on surveys conducted in the early
1990s that show a population of nearly 5 million animals. Harp seal herds
in the northwest Atlantic appear to be at their highest levels in years.