Seal Hunt Research Paper

There are very few national debates within the country of Canada that are as prominent as the arguments surrounding the Atlantic seal hunt. The seal hunt is a traditional event that happens annually in the Atlantic provinces of Canada which takes place in the early spring of the year. This annual hunt provides a significant source of income to many of the residents in the Atlantic provinces (Sanger, 1998). The large debate surrounding the topic of the seal hunt is due to the fact that many people believe that the hunt is inhuman and should be stopped. The other side of this debate is that the hunt is not only humane but is also important to the Atlantic provinces and therefore should continue (Vaughan, 2009). When the situation surrounding the seal hunt is examined it is clear that the hunt should in fact be continued because it is important to the economy of the Atlantic provinces, it is important to the balance of the marine ecosystem and it is in fact a humane practice.
The seal hunt contributes …show more content…
This has led to sever over population of seals from having a lack of predators and therefore a large decrease in their food source, the threatened species Atlantic cod. If unchecked the seals will continue to deplete the cod stocks causing them to run out of a sufficient food source causing the seals to die of starvation. This can lead to the marine ecosystem in this area to collapse.
There is a common misconception that the seal hunt is inhumane because of some of the tools tradionally used in the hunt. In fact, the way that the seals are killed is actually very humane. This is because of new tools and technologies such as guns used within the hunt that result in the seals being killed instantaneously. There are also new standards involved within the hunt that regulate the humane killing of the seals to ensure that all hunters are maintaining a humane hunting