At the press conference on 8 July 2010, the New Fisheries Minister claimed in support of continued seal culling that the sealing industry is important as it creates jobs and contributes two per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or more. There can be no mistake of this statement the Minister said it publicly as recorded above. Almost all the media in Namibia reported this lie publicly.
According to the World Bank Namibia’s GDP is around $8,8 billion US dollars (2008). Namibia fishing industry (2007/2008) contributed $400 million US dollars or 5 per cent of GDP and employed 13 000 fishermen in the fishing industry.
The Minister and apparently the media would have all believe that it is ok to beat to death thousands of innocent baby seal pups, because 3 seal rights holders who employ less than a 100 part-time workers between July and November to kill 86 000 seals, exports raw seal skins with no value added processing, generates almost half the fisheries revenue. Generating 2 per cent of GDP or $176 million US dollars or N$ 1,320 billion Namibian dollars for exporting a few raw seal pup skins.
What utter nonsense. If this is not the biggest lie that has come out of Namibia’s sealing industry then I do not know what is. Even Fishing Industry Handbook puts Namibian seal trade at 0,02% of fisheries, who itself is only 5 per cent of GDP.
Using scare-mongering tactics, “If we reduce the TAC [on seal culling], we will have to deal with job layoffs,” said Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau”. Utter nonsense South Africa ended its seal cull in 1990 and not a single job was lost in the hake fishing industry, in fact that hake TAC increased.
The Minister claimed the US and EU seal product import bans had no effect on exports. Untrue, country’s importing seal products from Namibia have fallen from 21 to just 1. What is not in fashion in Europe and now banned is not in fashion anywhere. Whilst Namibia’s sole fur buyer has stated he still has skins from last year and does not intend purchasing more due to the global economic downturn.
The Minister’s claim that only 10 per cent of the seal pups will be killed is complete nonsense. The 3 sealing colonies account for 60 per cent of the seal breeding population, the cull will kill all the surviving seal pups. Therefore 100 per cent of the seal pups are killed in the sealing colonies.
What makes this Minister’s lie so serious, is that he used the 2 per cent and its importance to GDP to falsely obtain parliament approval to cull seals until 2012. It was all a lie. In reality he knew the sealing industry was worth only 0,002 per cent of GDP. What makes this even more serious, if seal use and job creation and its contribution to GDP defines policy, seal viewing ecotourism generates 10-times the revenue obtained from the sealing industry. Knowing this, his statement to parliament completely concealed all reference to the revenue from seal viewing. In fact, the Namibian govt only receives $13 000 US dollars by way of levies from the sealing industry, whilst earning 8 000 per cent more directly from seal viewing.
Such is the conflict between the seal cull and seal viewing that sealers are reduced to kill seals between 6.30am and 9am, to avoid upsetting the tourists who visit the same colony and are only allowed entry at 10am.
If job creation and contribution to GDP decides policy on the seal resource use, and seal viewing generates 10-times more revenue than from seal culls, why did the new Fisheries Minister not go before parliament and ask for the seal cull to end and be replaced with a non-consumptive use of the seal resource in line with the policies of the constitution.
Seal Alert-SA trusts the media will address and correct all of the false statements of the Minister before the seal cull starts on the 13 July. If the Minister has lied, the seal cull should immediately be halted until a full investigation is complete. In fact, almost every statement by the Minister was untrue.
In 2010 the Fisheries Minister is required to seek parliament approval for continuance of seal culling. Statements by the Minister of Fisheries to parliament on seal culling as reported by Namibian state-owned Newera newspaper and NBC yesterday, were false, one-sided and totally misleading, whilst stating it was a necessary evil (http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=11862 ).
Far from presenting a balanced overview on the sustainable use of the seal resource to parliament. The Minister’s one-sided statement, “Ministerial statement on seal harvesting” supported only one aspect of seal use in Namibia.
Is the Minister not duty bound to present an honest, fair and unbiased review of the seal resource and all it’s uses to parliament? If not, then who is? If it is not required, then how can parliament develop future policies of governance being ill-informed?
The Minister concealed completely and made no mention whatsoever of the benefits of non-consumptive use of seals, the millions earned in seal viewing revenue, impact the seal cull might have on tourism, the millions invested in boat-based seal viewing, the investment potential of increased seal ecosystem, the natural seal culls through mass die-offs and jackal predation that have recently plagued the species, the need to repopulate extinct former seal islands, the global economic downturn, the failure of the sealing industry to invest in value-added production and the effect’s it has had on exporting luxury seal skins, the intention of the sealing industry to be bought out and closed down, the overall effects of the EU seal import ban and the scientific findings of the European Food Safety Authority which had determined that Namibia’s sealing methods are cruel and inhumane.
These are facts parliament needs to be made aware of. Had the Minister been honest, and gave a balanced overview of the seal resource use, would parliament still have approved a seal cull until 2012?
Protecting seals and increased ecotourism far outweigh killing seals to give school children free seal oil capsules.
The Minister instead presented a false review with misleading statements why seals must be culled to benefit the hake fishery. Was parliament therefore deceived?
Like the former Minister attempted to keep the media and film-makers from observing the seal cull last year, the new Minister has gone out of his way to deceive the public and parliament.
Under no circumstances should animal cruelty be substituted for animal use or for the benefit of other animal species or profits. This is not the opinion of Seal Alert-SA, it is Namibian law.
A fisheries call for a seal cull to protect South Africa’s valuable hake fisheries in the late 1980s mimics Namibia. Which later in fact lead to South Africa cancelling the seal cull and imposing a moratorium on future seal culls based on scientific recommendations that remains in place two decades later. South African fisheries is now MSC certified and seal viewing continues to grow into a multi-million dollar sustainable industry worth over $5 million US dollars.
The Namibian Fisheries Minister’s statement that “the seal population is considered a threat to the hake industry” in 2010 is simply false.
A scientific study undertaken by Professor Butterworth/Punt on behalf of the South African government found that a seal cull would have a detrimental impact particularly on the hake fishery. This is because the fishery involves two hake species, who eat each other. The hake species of lesser importance to the fishery eats more of the more important and valuable exported hake. A seal cull would therefore result in increased depreciation of the more valuable hake, by the other hake species. In addition the important hake species is found at sea-depths unreachable by the seals of 300 – 500m depths.
Further scientific studies confirm that any seals culled will provide no certainty that these fish will not be consumed by other fish, sharks, whales, dolphins or seabirds.
The United Nations Environmental Protection agency developed in 1999 specific protocols for the scientific evaluation for proposals to cull marine mammals. Namibia could make use of this protocol but it would require considerable data and rigorous evaluation and scientific analyses.
Far from the seals posing any threat to the hake fishery. Namibia’s hake fishery has doubled from 60 000 tons to 130 000 tons since independence, reaching an unsustainable high of 275 000 tons, and last year the hake TAC was increased a further 10 per cent. Under what basis is the seals a threat to hake fishing?
An El Nino event saw the collapse of the hake fishery in 1995 which had nothing to do with seal predation of hake, as the seal population was effected similarly by the same event. Such events can and do recur and in doing so will render any annual seal cull meaningless.
A seal cull will not go down well with Namibia’s attempt to secure Marine Stewardship Certification in its hake fisheries, important since the collapse of the Spanish export market due to over-supply of hake, small size of fish and considerable price drop, and instead the attempts to gain access to EU markets, where fears are already in place that a rejection by MSC due to a unsustainable fishery could lead to a blacklisting and which will be suicidal for fisheries as a whole. Seal Alert intends to approach the MSC.
The Minister’s claim that 10 percent of the seal population is harvested is false. The harvested seal colonies consist of 60 per cent of the breeding population, of which 120 000 pups are produced. Jackal predation and natural mortality reduces this number by July to less than 70 000. A pup TAC of 80 000 will therefore kill all pups that were born in 60 per cent of the breeding population. All pups culled pose no threat or benefit to fisheries as all are non-fish eating nursing seal pups.
Collapsing Namibia’s largest seal breeding colonies, threatens future tourism boycotts, export bans, job creation and complete failure to acknowledge the value of existing seal-viewing ecotourism generates as an alternative to seal culling. The Minister presented an outlandish fraudulent support of the sealing industry.
Parliament should call for a complete review of the value of the established seal viewing ecotourism industry and what threat a seal cull poses to this industry and job losses.
The Minister alleged the Sealing industry contributes 1 – 2 percent of GDP and projecting it as a valuable important industry, is complete fabrication. The truth and reality is closer to 0,002 per cent of GDP.
To allege Namibia’s 3 seal rights holders in the sealing industry generates annually $90 – 180 million US dollars or $675 – 1, 350 billion Namibian dollars on the slaughter of 80 000 seal pups is false and total misrepresentation. Particularly in light of the sealers living in cardboard shacks. This is somewhat absurd when the Ministry receives $2 Namibian dollars for each pup killed in levies, and the industry itself has only invested to date $600 000 US dollars in the last two decades.
The reality or truth of the matter Namibia’s only remaining fur buyer, Hatem Yavuz offers Namibian sealers $6 US dollars per skin, annual sealing revenue is around $200 000 US dollars, no where near the $180 million US dollars claimed by the Minister. Hatem also offered Seal Alert-SA last year the price of $14 million US dollars to buyout the whole sealing industry, factories, including his processing factory in Turkey, and all sealing rights for a million seals until 2019, and shut it down.
In comparison 100 000 tourists pay $2 million US dollars each year to see seals in a protected reserve.
In deceitful motivation for support of the cull, to allege that Hatem who has purchased all Namibia’s seal skins for the past 6 years, and is the last remaining seal skin buyer, and who himself admitted he is no longer purchasing seal skins due to the global economic fallout, would suddenly invest in seal processing plants and create 100 jobs as a reason to continue the seal cull is as absurd as it gets.
It was further alleged that Seal Alert-SA was invited to accompany the Minister to the seal culling on 13 July, as stated in the heading, “Animal rights groups invited to seal culling”. No such invitation has been received, and an urgent email enquiry to verify such claims to Director of Marine Resources, confirmed that Seal Alert had not been invited, when requested for an explanation, the reply remains unanswered. A single ‘staged event’ day of seal culling will not alleviate the public concerns of cruelty present in the seal cull during 139 days of clubbing.
The Minister alleges on several occasions the public was asked for a more humane way of culling and to date none of the animal rights groups have come forward. This is a complete lie. Seal Alert-SA has detailed clearly that the current regulations, the very high TAC applied, the time-frame for killing and the methods used are inhumane, cruel and unworkable. Seal Alert has clearly pointed out that 1000 plus seal pups cannot be clubbed within the hour available before tourists arrive each morning. In order for sealers to club each pup on the head, the clubbed seal pup to be checked by one fisheries inspector for death, and then for another sealer to stab the seal in the heart and bleed out, would require at least 2 minutes. Sealers could therefore only average 30 seal pups an hour. Sealers would average 3 per cent of TAC. The TAC for this reason alone is too high. In addition, the regulations contradict itself, if the inspector has ascertained the death of the seal pup from being clubbed, why then the need to stab it in the heart and bleed out?
The Namibian SPCA has told the Minister in meetings and publicly that the seal cull violates the Animal Protection Act and is cruel. The SPCA even suggested the use of a boma system and captive-bolt used in abattoirs. This was rejected by the Minister as too many seal pups require killing and there is not enough time before Cape Cross opens to tourists at 10am. The SPCA is legislated to enforce the prevention of cruelty under the Act, the Minister refuses to abide by the law. The SPCA has consented that the only way to kill 1000 plus seal pups was to beat them all together, repeatedly until dead.
This public ‘Seal Culling Day’ with the Minister in an attempt at transparency and a humane seal cull is false. For not only was Seal Alert-SA not invited, but equally were no other animal rights groups invited. Even though Seal Alert-SA was invited to meet the Prime Minister in 2007. Canadian Minister of Fisheries grants over 60 organizations the right to monitor the cull throughout the sealing season independently
Minister of Fisheries has gone out of his way to intentionally deceive parliament. A full investigation should follow to verify his claims, a Commission on Sealing should be convened, and the seal cull halted until such time as a scientific review has been undertaken.
Shame on the Minister of Fisheries for lying, Shame on the media for reporting this obvious lie and shame on the SPCA for not upholding Namibian law.
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
27-78 152 9162
Paremos ésto , por favor .