Quebec sealers praise new personal-use seal-hunting licences in P.E.I. and N.B.

Quebec sealers are praising a new federal pilot project to expand personal-use seal-hunting licences to people on Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick and an animal welfare group says the move is "not really a concern"if the hunt is carried out humanely and sustainably.

The licences are a "great idea," according to Gil Thriault, director of the Intra-Quebec Sealers Association, an advocacy group representing sealers in the province.

"We've been expecting that for many years and demanding that for many years," Thriault said Wednesday.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced Tuesday that it will grant an unspecified number of personal-use licences this year to hunt grey and harp seals in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

Each licence will let the holder harvest up to six harp and/or grey seals, DFO said in a news release. Those are two of the four kinds of seals that spend at least part of the year in the waters around P.E.I.

In a follow-up email Friday, DFO said the personal-use licences allowforharvests fromlongliners or small boats, typically with crews of two to five sealers each. Harvesters can also hunt closer to shore, on foot or snowmobile, if seals are on solid ice.

Approved harvesting methods are restricted to the use of high-powered rifles, shotguns, firing slugs, clubs or hakapiks, the department said.

Until now, only hunters in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec could apply for such personal-uselicences in Eastern Canada.

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Grey and harp seals are known to eat a lot of herring and mackerel, and even small lobsters. That's why some in the fishing industry have been calling for more of them to be harvested. But some say there's no evidence that reducing the seal population will have a positive impact on fisheries in Eastern Canada. Connor Lamont explains.

The changes to personal-use seal licences came in response to "growing interest" in the hunt, according toDFO, despite a recent decline inseal populations.

"There areno conservation concerns specifically related to the harvestof grey and harp seals in Atlantic waters, as these stocks are deemed healthy," DFO said Friday in the emailed statement to CBC News.

'There's a will,'sealer says

Thriault said he's witnessed growing interest as well.

He said about 25 prospective hunters, most of them involved in the fisheries, attended an information session about personal-use licences he hosted on P.E.I. in August.

"There's a will," he said, before adding that it will take time for hunters on the Island to familiarize themselves with how best to take the animals.

Given that time, however, Thriault hopes the personal-use licences will be a first step toward the return of a wider commercial seal hunt in the region.

"What we want to do is reinvent seal hunting and spread that recipe somehow in the Maritimes and elsewhere in Quebec," he said.

DFO said in its statement that the 2024 harvest has the potential for expansion in the coming years.

"Further consultations with the provinces of New Brunswick and P.E.I. will help determine the exact locations that will be most ideal for a pilot project harvest to take place before the end of 2024, with the objective to expand in coming years," read the statement.

Thriault views seal hunting as a potential solution to improve fish stocksby limiting the "overabundant" population of seals that are now feeding on species like cod, squid and herring.

DFO'smost recent population estimate for harp seals dates back to 2019, when it stood at 4.7 million seals. Its most recent estimate for grey seals was 366,400, in 2021. A new population assessment based on the results of a2022 harp seal survey are expected to be published in 2025, DFO said.

Commercial hunt not viable: animal welfare group

But the director of wildlife campaigns for the International Fund for Animal Welfaresays commercial seal hunting has not proven to be economically viable.

SherylFink said that although her organization opposescommercial seal hunting, itdoes not oppose the new personal-use licences for P.E.I.

If it's done humanely and it's going to be done sustainably, in a proper manner, it's not really a concern for us. Sheryl Fink, International Fund for Animal Welfare

"If someone wants to go out and hunt a seal to feed their family, I think that's if it's done humanely and it's going to be done sustainably, in a proper manner it's not really a concern for us," she said.

Fink saidno scientific evidence supports the notion that reducing the number of seals in the regionwill help fish stocksrebound.

"What we do know is that when we try to balance ecosystems by removing large components of it, we generally make things worse, not better," she said.

Besides, she added, market demand for seal products simply does not exist.Instead, she said, proper management of all fisheriesshould leave enough fish to go around for humans and all kinds of animals including seals.