Brochures & References

1. Download CSP Canadian Seal Industry (all languages)
2. Download CSP Seal Oil Brochure (all languages)
3. Download CSP Seal Meat Brochure (all languages)
4. Download CSP Seal Fur Brochure (all languages)

Canadian Sealing Industry

(Download brochure)

 

Benefits to the industry

Based on data from several studies using traditional methods, a single adult grey seal can eat up to 2 tonnes of prey per year. Cod can represent up to 50% of this diet. This represents an estimated 500,000 tonnes of cod per year. In comparison, Atlantic Canada’s commercial cod catch was estimated at, only 11,000 tonnes.

• “An adult seal will eat between 1.5 and 2 tonnes of fish per year.” : Page 16 of The Sustainable Management of Grey Seal Populations: A Path Toward the Recovery if Cod and Other Groundfish Stocks, Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Oct. 2012<http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/411/pofo/rep/rep07oct12-e.pdf>
• “Cod can represent up to 50% of this diet.” Grey seals and cod. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Visited on 2021-03-26. <https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/seals-phoques/cod-morue-eng.html>
• “Atlantic Canada’s commercial cod catch = 10,581 tons”: Atlantic Coast Commercial Landings of fish and seafood in 2019-Groundfish-Atlantic Cod. Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Visited on 2021-03-26. https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/stats/commercial/land-debarq/sea-maritimes/s2019aq-eng.htm

 

Harp seals alone eat over 18 times more fish than the entire Atlantic Canadian fishing fleet’s annual seafood harvest.

• Atlantic Coast Commercial Landings of fish and seafood. Department of Fisheries and Oceans.http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/stats/commercial/land-debarq/sea-maritimes/s2018aq-eng.htm
• The total Atlantic Coast Commercial Landings in 2018 was less than 610,000 tons. It is estimated that seals eat over 1.5 tons of fish per year. 7.4 harp seals x 1.5 tons = 11 Million tons / 610,000 tons = 18 times.

 

The 2019 hunt alone saved our fishery $250 million in fish resources that would otherwise be consumed by seals.

• Approximately 32,000 harp seals were harvest in 2019. It is estimated that seals eat over 1.5 tons of fish per year. The value per tons of fish was at $5,200 in 2018. Source: 32,000 seals x 1.5 tons x $5,200 = $CAD 250 MILLION.

 

If the full quota was harvested, that value would be CAD$3.12 Billion.

• The annual quota is 400,0000 for harp seals. It is estimated that seals eat over 1.5 tons of fish per year. The value per tons of fish was at $5,200 in 2018. Source 400,000 seals x 1.5 tons x $5,200 = $CAD 3.12 BILLION.
• Total Allowable Catch (TAC) numbers are set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and announced every March, prior to the opening of the season. Harp seal Total Allowable Capture: Current Status of Northwest Atlantic Harp Seals. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, P.11, 2019. https://polarbearscience.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2019-harp-seal-status_dfo-2020_march-020-eng.pdf

Quick Facts

“The Harp, Grey and Ringed seal populations is estimated at 10 million”:

• Harp seal: 7.6 million: Harp seal population, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2019. https://polarbearscience.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2019-harp-seal-status_dfo-2020_march-020-eng.pdf
• Grey seal: 505,000: Stock Assessment of Canadian Grey Seals. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2014/2014_010-eng.html
• Ringed seal: 1.5 million: Ringed seals estimated size of the population is 2.3 million in Canada and adjacent waters (West Greenland, Alaska and Russia) Note, there is low confidence in this estimate. (Finley et al. 1983; Smith 1975; Frost et al. 2004; Bengtson et al. 2005)

 

“The Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans estimates the average adult seal eats 1.5-2 tons of fish per year. This equates to millions of tons of fish and seafood consumed by seals each year.”

• “An adult seal will eat between 1.5 and 2 tonnes of fish per year.” : Page 16 of The Sustainable Management of Grey Seal Populations: A Path Toward the Recovery if Cod and Other Groundfish Stocks, Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Oct. 2012<http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/411/pofo/rep/rep07oct12-e.pdf>
• Bjarte Bogstad et al. “A review of the battle for food in the Barents Sea: cod vs. marine mammals.” 2015 <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2015.00029/full>

 

Abundant population

The harvest from 2019, represented less than 10% of the sustainable quota on each species.

• Total Allowable Catch (TAC) numbers are set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and announced every March, prior to the opening of the season. Harp seal Total Allowable Capture: Current Status of Northwest Atlantic Harp Seals. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, P.10, 2012. https://polarbearscience.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/2019-harp-seal-status_dfo-2020_march-020-eng.pdf
• Grey seal quota: “Portrait-diagnostic sectoriel de l’industrie québécoise du phoque », p. 3.http://www.mapaq.gouv.qc.ca/phoque
• The percentage of the 460,000 seal quota that was harvested in 2019: In 2019 a total of 32,199 harps seals and 1,232 Grey seals were harvested.  Fisheries and Oceans Canada Report. On DFO website, the last landings report is dating from 2016. Since then, the landings have decreased significantly: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/seals-phoques/seal-stats-phoques-eng.html

 

Sustainably harvested

The annual seal harvest contributes to marine biodiversity protection. Seal is considered “Smarter Seafood”:

• http://exploramer.qc.ca/en/list-of-marine-species-valued-by-smarter-seafood/
• http://exploramer.qc.ca/liste_2021_fourchette_bleue/
• “Climate change and seal predation are elements that have an impact more than ever on the biomass of the St. Lawrence, and therefore requires public awareness about the origin and state of our marine resources.”
• “When issuing the Smarter Seafood list for 2021, Exploramer’s team came to the conclusion that they suspected for a while which now officially appears in DFO reports: gray seals are partly responsible for the decline of at least six species of fish: Atlantic cod, Winter flounder, American Plaice, White Hake, Yellowtail Flounder and Winter Skate. In this context, the seal hunt conducted in a responsible and sustainable manner, and the consumption of this meat, in order to minimize the increase in these populations, is to be favored. This meat, wild, hormone and antibiotic free is rich in protein, iron and omega 3.”

 

Humane & Professional

Canadian harvesting practices are among the best in the world. They are guided by rigorous animal welfare principles that are internationally recognized by independent observers: Ensuring the seal harvest is humane, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, visited on 2021-03-26 <https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/seals-phoques/humane-sans-cruaute-eng.html>

 

Seal Oil Brochure

(Download brochure)

 

Helps repair blood vessels

Data show that DPA helps to achieve maximal endothelial migration, a critical function in repairing blood vessels:

• Kaur G, Cameron-Smith D, Garg M, Sinclair AJ. Docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3): a review of its biological effects. Prog Lipid Res. 2011 Jan;50(1):28-34. doi: 10.1016/j.plipres.2010.07.004. Epub 2010 Jul 23. PMID: 20655949
• Mann NJ, O’Connell SL, Baldwin KM, Singh I, Meyer BJ. Effects of seal oil and tuna-fish oil on platelet parameters and plasma lipid levels in healthy subjects. Lipids. 2010 Aug;45(8):669-81. doi: 10.1007/s11745-010-3450-z. Epub 2010 Jul 23. PMID: 20652432.

10x more effective than EPA

Studies have shown that the same health results are achieved using just 1/10th the amount of DPA compared to EPA:

• Kanayasu-Toyoda T, Morita I, Murota S. Docosapentaenoic acid (22:5, n-3), an elongation metabolite of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5, n-3), is a potent stimulator of endothelial cell migration on pretreatment in vitro. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1996 May;54(5):319-25. doi: 10.1016/s0952-3278(96)90045-9. PMID: 8832760.

An Omega-3 that absorbs better

• Mann NJ, O’Connell SL, Baldwin KM, Singh I, Meyer BJ. Effects of seal oil and tuna-fish oil on platelet parameters and plasma lipid levels in healthy subjects. Lipids. 2010 Aug;45(8):669-81. doi: 10.1007/s11745-010-3450-z. Epub 2010 Jul 23. PMID: 20652432

Boosts all key Omega-3’s

DPA increases the levels of all key omega-3’s (EPA, DHA and DPA), therefore boosting Omega-3 levels in the body:

• Miller E, Kaur G, Larsen A, Loh SP, Linderborg K, Weisinger HS, Turchini GM, Cameron-Smith D, Sinclair AJ. A short-term n-3 DPA supplementation study in humans. Eur J Nutr. 2013 Apr;52(3):895-904. doi: 10.1007/s00394-012-0396-3. Epub 2012 Jun 23. PMID: 22729967.
• Kaur G, Cameron-Smith D, Garg M, Sinclair AJ. Docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3): a review of its biological effects. Prog Lipid Res. 2011 Jan;50(1):28-34. doi: 10.1016/j.plipres.2010.07.004. Epub 2010 Jul 23. PMID: 20655949. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20655949/

 

Seal Meat Brochure

(Download brochure)

 

Nutritional comparison of seal meat and other meats

Seal Meat Nutritional Value:

• Nutrition Facts for Adult Harp Seal Loin made by Environex for SeaDNA.
• The nutritional values refer to the values supplied by the SeaDNA (report n ° 16-13 Merinov for SeaDNA).
• The reference amount for raw sea animal meat is 125 g.
• Data on protein, magnesium, iron, calcium and vitamin B12 are from a research from Shahidi and Synoweicki from 1996.

Information on lipids and calories were taken from the website https://nutritiondata.self.com/

Other meats:

• Chicken breast, oven-roasted, fat-free, sliced: https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sausages-and-luncheon-meats/1501/2
• Boneless Pork Loin, Fresh Pork: https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/pork-products/2300/2
• Beef, bottom sirloin, tri-tip, separable lean only, trimmed to 0″ fat, choice, cooked, roasted:  https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/7492/2
• Fish, Cod, Atlantic, Raw: https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4041/2

 

Seal Fur & Leather Brochure

(Download brochure)

 

No reference