dolphin deaths and seal hunt/boycott

As HSUS and other groups organize a boycott of Canadian seafood to protest the seal hunt, (see Time Magazine article below) we see an article from the UK that makes it clear that those who care about other marine mammals, dolphins, should avoid sea bass.

The Saturday, March 26, Independent carried an article headed, "War at Sea: Greenpeace Fights to Save Dolphins From the Nets."

It opens:

"Skimming the peaks of mountainous waves, plunging into space then hitting the bottom of watery canyons with a great slap that leaves your stomach some way behind, the inflatable boats tear across the English Channel towards the target.

"The Greenpeace boats are heading for two French trawlers, which appear intermittently between rolling blue hills of water. Trailing between them is a massive net, its presence under the waves signalled by two buoys on the surface a couple of hundred metres behind the ships.

"At that moment, many feet below, this net is scooping up the loose shoals of the gleaming prize, fish which gather to spawn at this time of year; sea bass in Britain, loup de mer to the French. And among the sea bass may be dolphins, gorging on a smorgasbord of smaller fry, unsuspecting of the nets that will haul them in.

"Campaigners say dolphins, who have to come up for air every six minutes or so, are dying in their hundreds, possibly thousands, each year, drowning entangled in the nets of these 'pair' trawlers.

"Their bodies are usually dumped back by the fishermen, their bellies slit to make them sink quickly. And by a combination of persuasion and harassment, the Greenpeace boats are trying to stop the fishing and save the dolphins."

The article describes the morning's efforts, then explains:

"The bigger victory sought by Greenpeace and other groups such as the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, who have observers on board gathering data on all cetacean populations, is a total ban on trawling in the area to preserve dolphins.

"Based on official British figures of dolphin by-catch by the few Scottish pair trawlers, campaigners estimate up to 2,000 dolphins are killed by fishing here each year, an unacceptable proportion, they say, of a total population of at least 9,700.

"The dolphins, which gather to feed in early spring, started to suffer only when the sea bass fishery began nearly 20 years ago, in response to rising demand. The rest of the world woke up to the slaughter only two years ago when scores of dead dolphins were washed up on Cornish and Devon shores."

You can read the whole article on line at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=623781 OR http://tinyurl.com/3p7e6

It presents a great opportunity for pro-veggie letters. An excellent resource is http://www.FishingHurts.com. The Independent takes letters at: letters [at] independent.co.uk and advises, "If you wish to submit a letter for publication in the newspaper, it must include the sender's name, postal address and daytime telephone number."

With regard to protecting other marine mammals: Time Magazine has covered the impending boycott on Canadian Seafood, in an article in the April 4 edition (Pg 17) headed "Save the Seals by Skipping the Scallops?" It is short, so I will paste it here in full (and you can find it on line at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1042490,00.html):
"The same activists who helped introduce the world to dolphin-safe tuna are about to take consumers on a similarly gruesome guilt trip. In an effort to abolish Canada's government-sanctioned seal hunts, in which pups as young as 12 days are fair game to get clubbed to death, the Humane Society of the United States and other animal-rights groups will launch a campaign this week to pressure Americans to boycott all seafood from our neighbor to the north. With a kickoff scheduled for March 29, the official starting date of Canada's seal hunt, the Humane Society is printing tens of thousands of bumper stickers and pledge forms to be distributed at supermarkets and restaurants across the U.S. And thanks to unrelated legislation, the U.S. will begin enforcing a law on April 4 that requires labels on fresh and frozen seafood to identify its country of origin."

"As the seal population has climbed back up to historic heights, so too has the demand for pelts in a few countries. Most of the hunt is conducted in economically depressed Newfoundland by some 4,000 off-season fishermen. 'This is an important part of their income,' says Geoff Regan, Canada's Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. But animal-rights activists are betting that because the U.S. buys nearly two-thirds of Canada's exported seafood, a boycott will inspire the industry to end the hunt. They also contend that Newfoundland, a former whaling hub that now makes a bundle from whale watching, can overcome the economic disruption. 'That kind of cultural shift has happened before,' says Canadian environmental activist Rick Smith. 'We can do the same with seals."

You can submit a letter in favor of the boycott, and in favor of plant-based diets, at:
http://www.time.com/time/letters/email_letter.html



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