CBC Digital Archives

U.K. seal hunt boycott threatens Canadian fishery

Those beseeching eyes were impossible to avoid. In the 1970s images of fuzzy white seal pups were everywhere as activists fought to end the seal hunt in Canada. Seals have been harvested for generations on the floes of the Atlantic coast, but concerns about killing methods and conserving the herd virtually ended the practice in the 1980s. The threat of too many cod-eating seals resurrected the hunt, and today anti-cruelty activists monitor an industry that's at its strongest in decades.

"Will you stop this carnage and butchery? You can by not buying Canadian fish products!" A young woman on a Nottingham street exhorts passersby to help pressure the Canadian government to end the seal hunt. Heartbreaking images of seal pups dominate the boycott literature, and coordinators say the campaign has already succeeded beyond their expectations. On CBC's The Journal, Canada's high commissioner says sales of B.C. salmon have suffered more than any east coast species.
. In 1982 Canadian fish exports to Britain were worth approximately $80 million -- ten per cent of total worldwide exports.
. The IFAW boycott campaign in Britain began immediately after the European Commission ban was extended in October 1983. On Feb. 6, 1984, the supermarket chain Tesco, with 465 stores, said it would no longer stock Canadian fish products until the seal hunt was ended. Safeway, with 105 stores, soon followed.

. In 1984, due to the EEC export ban and British fish boycott, there was no vessel-based commercial seal hunt; only landsmen went out.
. The Canadian government refused to give in to the boycott that year and announced it would guarantee sealers 80 per cent of the usual price for seal pelts -- about $24 each.

. Fish products manufacturers, fearful the fish boycott would spread to the United States, urged an end to the seal hunt. Even the fisheries ministers of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia agreed the danger of losing the U.S. market would justify a ban.
. Other groups, including the Fisheries Council of Canada, the Canadian Sealers' Association and the federal Progressive Conservatives (then the Opposition in Ottawa), supported a moratorium on hunting whitecoat seal pups.
Medium: Television
Program: The Journal
Broadcast Date: April 3, 1984
Guest(s): Pater Davis, Dan Jamieson, Ian McPhail, Dan Morast, Richard Sweet
Host: Bill Cameron, Barbara Frum
Reporter: Bruce Garvey
Duration: 17:28

Last updated: October 11, 2012

Page consulted on March 27, 2013

All Clips from this Topic

Related Content

Pelts, Pups and Protest: The Atlantic Seal Hu...

Those beseeching eyes were impossible to avoid. In the 1970s images of fuzzy white seal pups w...

Greenpeace: Always Bearing Witness

From its humble beginnings in Vancouver, Greenpeace has grown into the world's leading environ...

Politics and the Olympics

Every four years, the countries of the world gather to celebrate athletic achievement in an at...

1980: Canada boycotts Moscow Olympics

There won't be any Canadian athletes at the 1980 summer Olympics. The government is boycotting...

1977: Price of a cup goes up, up, up

Jittery consumers consider a coffee boycott after a frost in Brazil boosts the price of beans.

Olympic torch tarnished in China

En route to Beijing, the Olympic torch is nearly extinguished by activists opposed to the Chin...