Two Sea Shepherd mariners, Captain Alexander Cornelissen and First Officer Peter Hammarstedt, of the vessel Farley Mowat pleaded NOT GUILTY today in Nova Scotia to charges of coming to close to Seal hunters without a proper Seal-Hunt observation license. The supposed infraction happened on March 30 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A gang of seal clubbers claimed that the Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat got within 900 meters of them on the ice near Cape Breton. Sea Shepherd contends that Farley Mowat is a Dutch-registered ship and not subject to Canadian regulations that attempt to hide the bloody massacre of Seals from the rest of the world. Sea Shepherd also contends that the ship was not within the 900-meter limit and was in fact in international waters. If found guilty the two mariners are subject to obscene fines of up to US$98,680 and a year in jail.

The Canadian Coast Guard continues to hold the Farley Mowat hostage. The failing and heavily subsidized Canadian Seal Clubbing industry sells pelts mostly to Norway, Russia, and China. Seal products are banned in civilized countries.

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In related news, hundreds of civilized people protested outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels yesterday. They were demanding that the entire 27-nation EU impose a continent-wide ban on Seal products from Canada and elsewhere.

Civilized People
[source]

Eh?

--El Tiburon

technorati tags: Seals, Canada, Nova Scotia, Sea Shepherd, Farley Mowat, Belgium, EU, Brussels, fur, Nprway, Russia, China, Seal Clubbing

Seal clubbing season runs from July 1 to November 15 in the African nation of Namibia. This year's quota is the same as last year's--86,000! And the best part? Namibian Sealers don't care so much about international outrage as Canadian Sealers--80,000 of the Seals to be clubbed this year are nursing pups. That's right! Baby Seals!

Seals are processed for their skin, fur, and meat (except no one really eats them and the market for seal products dwindles every year).

Seal blood and waste products are rendered into Seal oil for use in quack pills and medicines.

The justification for the slaughter as laid down by Moses Maurihungirire, the director of resource management at Namibia's Ministry of Fisheries and Marine resources, is that seals eat 1/3 of Namibia's fish, which is bad for Namibian fishermen, also the slaughter creates 149 jobs. Nice!

The white stuff? After being stabbed, this baby Seal is spitting up the milk it had just suckled from its mother.

Need we say any more?

--El Tiburon

technorati tags: Africa, South Africa, Namibia, Seals, Seal Hunt, baby Seals, fishing

After a five year review, NOAA’s Fisheries Service has determined that the Caribbean Monk Seal is officially extinct. This is an especially proud moment for humanity because it marks the first Seal species to go extinct from human causes. Monk Seals were easy targets for hunters and assorted jackasses because they spent a lot of time on the beach, resting, giving birth, or nursing their pups. The Seals were hunted primarily for their blubber which was rendered down to use as lubricant. To be fair, the last confirmed sighting of the Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952, so it is not like they were hunted to death on our own watch. There are still two other species of Monk Seals left--the Hawaiian Monk Seal and the Mediterranean Monk Seal. However, both species are critically endangered and are not expected to survive for very much longer without strict protections and a recovery plan. There are less than 1,200 Hawaiian and 500 Mediterranean Monk Seals left.

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This is the last known picture of a live Caribbean Monk Seal: taken in 1913 at the New York Aquarium.

--Ms Sharky

technorati tags: Seals, Caribbean Monk Seal, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Mediterranean Monk Seal, endangered species, NOAA, extinct species