Witnessing of Seal Hunt Prohibited by Government:

It's March 28th, and today, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans has once again opened the annual seal hunt off Canada’s East Coast. Seals have all ready been killed.

This year the government has strictly prohibited anyone who opposes the seal hunt from viewing or filming the hunt.  This is similar to what China has been doing with human rights violations, it's a poor attempt at censorship.

In Canada, there's a horribly named law that is called the 'Seal Protection Act'. What this should have been called is the sealers protection act. This act forbids non-sealers from approaching sealers who are engaged in sealing activities. It is illegal to approach a sealing vessel or anyone who is in the act of sealing without a permit.

Anyone who wishes to film, document, watch, or protest the hunt is required by law to apply for the right to purchase a permit. If anyone is caught filming the hunt without a permit they face prison time and hefty fines. 

Permits are only given to those of whom the government views as not being a threat. This year the government has refused to hand out a permit to any organization that has in the past protested or filmed the hunt.

Basically, in Canada if you try to stop the killing, or to even document it, you are going to jail.

The government is even taking it one step further and threatening protest groups with unrelated laws, attempting to do everything in its power to thwart those who campaign to end this barbaric hunt. Here is a letter that was sent to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society threatening them if they attempt to approach the Seal Hunt:

To: Master m/y Farley Mowat,

I have reasonable grounds to believe that your vessel is in contravention of international maritime conventions.  The vessel must comply with International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions, which include:

• International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
• Standard for Training and Certification of Watchkeeping (STCW)
• International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL), and
• International Tonnage Certificate requirements

Based on information provided by the Netherlands Registry, the vessel does not meet the requirements of the above conventions.  Therefore pursuant to Section 227 of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, you are hereby directed to not enter Canadian waters.  If this order is not complied with you will be subject to prosecution under Canadian law. “

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Transport,
Infrastructure and Communities.

As you can see the government is protecting the barbarians and is preventing the documenting of what is transpiring. Sealers have a set kill quota of 275 000. Of course there is organization to document how many seals are actually killed, or to enforce this quota. This quota doesn't even include the number of unreported kills. It's basically a free for all, where the killers can have fun kicking baby seals, and savagely clubbing them.

It's become more and more clear that the Canadian government is intending to do whatever it can to keep this hunt alive, regardless of global protests. The government here cares only about one thing, and that is keeping local sealing voters happy.