No Arctic fishery until more is known, Canadians say

A sound decision for now, but it means nothing unless we can enforce it in the future.

The seal clubbing can continue however

Its a managed fishery. There has to be some way to protect that last lonely turot Brian Tobin so eloquently spoke of several years ago.

Hmm 280,000 quota in 2009 with an estimated herd size off Atlantic Canada being around 5.5 million. And clubbing? Geez dude, it's more humane than the way most feed animals are slaughtered.
The hakapik, used by the Inuit, is considered by several American veterinary scientists and members of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association to be the most humane way to kill seals.
However, East Coasters tend to shoot them, and shooting stuff is something Americans are supposed to be big on.

I agree PA9.

Out of control seal populations contributed greatly to the cod fishery collapse. Seals have been hunted around NFLD since the 16th century.

I's opine that gross over fishing, illegal fishing, and outright pisspoor management by DFO/fisherman were what did in the fishery. Seals, were however, a popular whipping boy by the government and fisherman in order to work around their own culpability.

Obviously the DFO and over-fishing were the main issues on the collapse, but a massive seal population played its part too.

If seals weren't so cute nobody would give a toss.

When Europeans first came to the Grand Banks they said you could just scoop fish up with a hand net they were so plentiful. Seals had lived in ecological balance with fish for millennia until whitey came along.

But, taking a minute percentage of seals doesn't seem like a big deal either. Way too much hysteria around that. OTOH it's up to people to decide if they want to wear seal fur, and if they don't there isn't much reason for the hunt of this size.

Dan, I'm not sure how hunting a seal is any different than a deer or other higher mammal?

I think we should, Globally, end Commercial Wild Fisheries outright, at the very least the giant factory ships need to go. It's time to transition to Fish Farming, preferably closed tank on land, but that's unlikely feasible for many stocks.

Allow Sport Fisheries, small Fishing Boats.

There have been lots of reports of how the fishery is collapsing world wide. Might be a good idea to hold off fish mining the arctic unless we can do it in a sustainable way.