Animal rights activists are up in arms over a proposed seal
culling campaign that the Angolan government claims is necessary for fish
conservation. While supporters claim that seal populations must be controlled
in order for fishermen to survive, opponents argue that the people in charge
really want to expand the business of selling seal skins and other products.
Angola has a large grey seal - not sea lion- population, estimated at 27,500 in
2012. And it’s growing fast. From 2006 to 2012, seal numbers grew 14%. Each
seal eats between 8kg and 30kg of fish every day, and Angolan fishermen claim
that the marine carnivores are having a detrimental effect on fisheries.
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| Grey seal pup. http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/gallery/2011/10/19/1319036490379/Grey-seal-pup-Ramsey-Isla-007.jpg |
Knowing that, a well-managed cull makes some sense. The
process of culling is stressful and pretty horrific for the animals. Nursing
pups are taken away from their mothers and clubbed to death. And, as the
director of the seal campaign at the International Fund for Animal Welfare
claims, no scientific study has ever shown a seal cull to have a beneficial
effect on fish stocks. Additionally, removing predators like the seal could
have unexpected effects on sensitive ecosystems and would have to be handled
very cautiously.
Activists claim that politicians may want to expand the seal
products business. Asian markets sell products like seal genitalia, but the
European Union bans all seal products, including skins. The ministry of the
environment, which proposed the culling program, claims that it is just one
proposed possibility to help fishermen and that it is exploring other options.
Hopefully Angola will find another solution to help fishermen and will realize
that it is rich enough in other resources that it does not need a seal products
economy.
Read more here: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-05-30-00-animal-activists-slam-angolas-seal-culling-plan-1
-MA
