加拿大「調整」海豹捕獵法規 以規避歐盟貿易禁令 | 環境資訊中心
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加拿大「調整」海豹捕獵法規 以規避歐盟貿易禁令

2009年01月08日
摘譯自2008年12月30日ENS加拿大,渥太華報導;游珮綺編譯;蔡麗伶審校

狩獵海豹現場。圖片提供: Dave Ward 沒有任何的宣傳,加拿大政府針對其一年一度的海豹捕獵活動悄悄發佈新法規,當中規定今年海豹獵人必須確定海豹已經死亡才可以剝除動物毛皮。

一個月前加拿大新任的聯邦漁業部長(Fisheries Minister)謝伊(Gail Shea)還表示,「加拿大正在準備2009年海豹捕獵季,我們的捕獵活動將如常進行。」而現在卻悄然發佈『海洋哺乳動物法規』(Marine Mammal Regulations)修改條例,其中包括了加強聯邦執法能力。

謝伊的發言人稱這個新法規為「調整條例」(tweaks)。

加拿大漁業暨海洋部(Department of Fisheries and Oceans,DFO)發言人詹金斯(Phil Jenkins)表示,「當然這些調整條例與各個獨立執業的獸醫一直要告訴我們的一樣,即我們要確定狩獵活動必須盡可能符合人道精神。」

因此新法規的其中一項規定,「不可以使用棍子或傳統刺棒(hakapik)來攻擊滿周歲的海豹,除非海豹已經以槍械進行人道射殺。」這個新法規12月27日在政府公報中公佈,而不是公佈在漁業暨海洋部的網站上。

然而,這個新法規能達到的效果將非常有限,因為在捕獵季中被捕殺的海豹只有不到百分之一是已經滿周歲的海豹。

在過去3年當中,每年能合法狩獵的海豹總數介於27萬隻和33萬5千隻之間,這是世界上最大型的海洋哺乳動物狩獵活動。

狩獵海豹現場。圖片提供:Nigel Barker 。根據新法規規定,現存的「閃光測試」(blink test)過去經常用於檢視海豹在被剝皮之前是否已經喪失知覺,但現在則必須要漸漸淘汰,因其信賴度不佳。海豹獵人現在必須要去感覺海豹的頭蓋骨並確定頭骨已經破裂;此外,海豹獵人在剝皮之前必須將海豹放血60秒。

這個新規定也承認,這樣一來將會增加海豹獵人的狩獵成本,因為這樣將會「減慢捕獵的速度」。而新法也可能透過在直升機上安裝監控攝影機來加強執法措施。

但是在水中射殺海豹仍然是合法的,因為新法規中沒有任何一項相關的規定可供遵循。

根據漁業暨海洋部針對新法規所做的的分析指出,此一政策轉變將「有助於維持加拿大的國際聲譽,並維護其『人道捕獵』的國家形象」。

加拿大政府目前正面臨歐洲聯盟所提出的貿易禁令,其必須確保所有的海豹相關產品不能以疼痛的方式來獵殺動物或剝皮,危難和痛苦在歐洲市場是不允許存在的。

Canada 'Tweaks' Seal Hunt Rules to Avert EU Trade Ban
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, December 30, 2008 (ENS)

Without fanfare, the Canadian government has posted new regulations for its annual seal hunt that will require sealers to ensure the animals are dead before skinning them.

The amendments to the Marine Mammal Regulations, which include strengthened federal enforcement, come just over a month after newly appointed federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said Canada is "going straight ahead for the 2009 hunt. We're proceeding as usual."

A spokesman for Shea called the new regulations "tweaks."

"Certainly these tweaks are in keeping with what independent veterinarians have been telling us to make sure the hunt is as humane as it can possibly be at all times," said Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman Phil Jenkins.

"No person shall use a club or a hakapik to strike a seal older than one year unless the seal has been shot with a firearm," states one of the new rules, posted Saturday in a government publication but not on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans website.

However, this rule will have little effect because fewer than than one percent of the seals killed during the annual hunt are older than a year.

In the past three years, the total allowable seal catch has ranged between 270,000 and 335,000 seals annually. It is the largest marine mammal hunt in the world.

Under the new rules, the existing "blink test," used to check whether seals are unconscious before skinning is being eliminated because it is unreliable. The sealers must now feel the seal's cranium to make sure it is broken. Sealers must bleed the animals for 60 seconds before skinning.

The regulations acknowledge that this will increase costs to sealers by "reducing the speed of the harvest." The new rules could be enforced by officers using helicopter-mounted surveillance cameras.

Yet, it is still legal to shoot seals in the water, where none of the new rules can be followed.

The policy shift will "help maintain Canada's international reputation as a country that sustains a "humane hunt," according to an analysis by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that goes with the new rules.

The Canadian government is facing a proposed European Union trade ban "to ensure that products derived from seals killed and skinned in ways that cause pain, distress and suffering are not found on the European market."

作者

蔡麗伶(LiLing Barricman)

In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.