Shea takes a step forward

While the number of P.E.I. fishers taking part in the sealing industry tends to be relatively small, the province tends to be front and center in the annual Gulf of St Lawrence hunt.

That’s because both the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the protesters who try their best each year to create a media circus bigger than the preceding season, both set up shop in Charlottetown. Islanders have come to regard these visits as a largely unwelcome rite of spring.

The protestors usually garner little in the way of sympathy among the Island population. Fishing remains a major industry in the Cradle of Confederation and its roots are deep.

No matter the political stripe of the federal government, sealers tend to enjoy stronger support when the fisheries minister comes from the east coast. The verbal attacks against the protestors by Newfoundlanders Brian Peckford and Loyola Hearn come quickly to mind. Gail Shea is adding her name to that list.

Her latest salvo was a trip to China, where she sought out new markets for seal products. There was a sealskin fur fashion show and talks between Shea and other DFO officials about the possibility of sending seal meat to the world’s largest market. It could well be the rebirth of the industry.

Protests aren’t allow in China and I don’t think the so call “committed” of Greenpeace, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and their sister organizations are going to risk Chinese prisons. They are unlikely to have the lobbying success in Beijing they have achieved in the European capitals.

Shea is also fighting a ban by the European Union on Canadian seal products before the World Trade Organization. However, that fight promises to be long and the probability of success is open to question. Even if the ban is lifted, what kind of market will there be?

Trying to make inroads into the world’s largest market makes much more sense. The middle class is rising in China and a sealskin coat can be seen as a status symbol with the right marketing. Canadian seal products are welcome in China. That’s not the case in Europe due to the work of IFAW and its ilk and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. "We're very optimistic we'll be able to export seal meat into China," Shea told reporters while in China, sporting a ribbon of seal fur in support of the industry. Counting the hunt in the Gulf and the Arctic, there are over 15,000 Canadians who have hunting permits.

It will be a while before China allows seal meat but the process is now under way.

And it looks like the protestors are worried.

In the wake of Shea’s Chinese visit, the International Fund for Animal Welfare released a study claiming the industry is costing Canadians $6.9 million a year. They offered little documentation to support their contention.