Seal industry expands despite activism

Adam Hartman

AGAINST CULLING ... A march held in protest of Namibia’s seal harvest was organised in Johannesburg last month. Photo: Contributed

To add insult to injury, instead of stopping the cull, another three year rolling of Total Allowable Catch (for 2013 to 2015) of 86 000 seals (80 000 being pups) was recently approved.

Other developments include the expansion of the Henties Bay seal factory and the introduction of another N$7,2 million factory in Luderitz.

“We practice the responsible, internationally accepted utilisation of our marine resources,” Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Bernhard Esau last week told The Namibian.

At the time, this newspaper unsuccessfully requested permission to go on an outing with sealers and report on ‘a day in Namibia’s seal harvest’. A similiar request in 2008 was also declined by the former minister.

Sealers to whom this newspaper spoke were reluctant to give permission, stating that this was only granted by the minister.

A Cabinet statement from the beginning of this week showed that a recent stock assessment based on aerial counts conducted in December 2011 showed about 255 000 pups and a total seal population of around 1,2 million in January 2012. Allegedly, there is also a northward shift of Cape Fur seal with the establishment of the Cape Frio colony and a breeding colony at Baia dos Tigres (southern Angola) in progress.

Considering the state of the stock at present, marine scientists recommended that the TAC be set at 86 000 seals and that potential new sites for seal harvesting be explored for further commercial exploitation.

There are currently two processing facilities in Namibia: one in Henties Bay and the other in Luderitz. One of the new right holders is in the process of setting up a factory in Luderitz on land measuring 3 363 square meters and has engaged a seal expert from Canada to assist with the project.

The government’s total investment in the seal industry in the last financial year has amounted to N$14 873 000 and is expected to increase by at least N$7,2 million due to the setting up of the new factory.

The existing factory in Henties Bay has also been expanded for value addition purposes.

Value addition is done through processing of pelts in a salted wet form at the respective factories and carried out according to the clients specifications (cutting, stapling and tanning) at Nakara Manufacturers.

Other products are dried and cooked with salt in a mixer and sold as such. These products are sold locally as well as on the international markets, mainly to China and Turkey.

Since the EU ban, new markets have been explored to sell the seal products. These are South Africa, Japan and Korea amongst others.

Irregardless of these developments, activists are still using every possible means to stop the cull. These include petitions, protests, spam mails, tweet bombs and boycotts as well as [seal] funeral marches.

Local tour operators told the Namibian that they have received copies of petitions and pledges but after informing international agents why this was happening, the matter was moved aside and business continued as usual with no real effects on tourism.

However, the Ethical Traveler (a nonprofit organisation that promotes ethical, green, responsible, eco and sustainable travel) recently stated that although Namibia is often cited as the most environmentally progressive of all African countries, this was stained by the seal harvest.

“The continued annual slaughter of fur seals is unacceptable and prevents us from including Namibia on the list [of 10 most ethical travel destinations in the world]. Ethical Traveler appeals to the Namibian government to end this massacre, which traumatises local families engaged in the slaughter and profits only a few individuals.”

Besides the ‘cruelty’ aspect, there are also concerns which involve the export component of the seal products, such as quality standard testing of certain products like oil, meat and bull testicles apparently used for eastern medicines and human consumption.

In fact, China and Namibia last year signed an animal health quarantine pact that involves the export of Namibian meat, fish and other water animal products to China. Whether these products are quality tested, as per this agreement, remains a matter of concern.