The European Union banning products from a nation that MUST harvest an over abundant population of seals??? The ARA lies just keep steam rolling along and stupid politicians seem to be like cowards afraid to challenge the lies.



Montreal Gazette
Ottawa must stand up to EU, minister says
Seal product ban; Ottawa wasting time negotiating: Taylor
RICHARD DOOLEY,
Canwest News Service
Thursday, July 24 2008
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=53d6d93e-5411-42cb-8907-c8d922a6e507

Newfoundland Fisheries Minister Trevor Taylor is angry the federal
government isn't reacting more forcefully to a proposed European ban
on seal products that could have devastating consequences on thousands
of people who depend on the annual hunt to augment their income.

The proposal stops short of calling for a total ban. Instead, the EU's
executive body proposes products from the 900,000 seals hunted each
year should be accepted in the EU only with guarantees that the seal
had been killed as humanely as possible.

Actually the number is 900,000 every three years as the median catch is 300,000 seals every year.

Reacting to the news - a move that could take the European Parliament
months to pass - Taylor said the federal government is wasting time
trying to negotiate.

Taylor is calling for Ottawa to commence trade action through the
World Trade Organization should the European legislation be adopted.
"It's time for the rubber to hit the road."

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn issued a statement saying
Ottawa supports Canada's sealing industry and discussions will soon
start with the Europeans to map out exemptions to the proposed
legislation.

"Once again, we would like to caution European decision-makers:
Adopting broad regulations to ban products from a responsible,
sustainable and well-regulated hunt is a slippery slope. To bow to
misinformation and emotional rhetoric in restricting the trade of
humanely harvested animals would set a dangerous precedent for all
wild hunts," Hearn said.

Touring Europe to make Canada's case for the seal hunt, Canadian
fisheries ambassador Loyola Sullivan said he expected a "very lengthy
process" to follow yesterday's announcement - one that could include a
visit by EU parliamentarians to Canada this fall - before a ban comes
into effect.

Animal rights groups applauded Europe's move but say it falls short
since it allows exemptions for products obtained from hunts that can
show seals did not suffer unnecessarily.

Similar problems on West Coast and the same players are involved in poor judgment & whacko emotionalism.




Christian Science Monitor
On one stretch of California coast, it's sand, sea, and man vs. beast
A years-long legal battle for a La Jolla cove may be ending – but for
activists on both sides, the seal saga goes on.
By Eilene Zimmerman
July 29, 2008
http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/07/29/qseals/

It's a sunny summer Tuesday, and in the waters off La Jolla Cove,
kayakers paddle toward underwater caves and swimmers dot the surface.
At Children's Pool, a sliver of beach sheltered by a 300-foot-long
crescent-shaped wall, the sand is white, the water is a shimmery
blue-green, and the smell – well, the smell is terrible.

The air is thick with the stench of seal poop – a scent as sour as the
years-long battle for this tiny piece of shoreline. For over a decade,
it's been the pinnipeds vs. the people in a fight for control, with
activists on both sides using everything from heckling and restraining
orders to lawsuits and a stun gun to draw and redraw their respective
lines in the sand.

Seals have been gathering here since the 1990s, gradually making
Children's Pool – created as a place for families and children – a
seal rookery, a place for the animals to have babies, rest, and
relieve themselves. These days, given the water's bacteria levels,
it's no longer considered safe for humans to swim.

Until very recently, the city was asking visitors to stay behind a
rope barrier that protected seals lounging at the water's edge. But in
2005, a California Superior Court ordered the city to take down the
rope, remove the seals, and clean up the pool. Animal-rights activists
appealed the decision, but last month, a US Appeals Court refused to
hear their case. The California Supreme Court has also declined to
hear it. The city has already begun the permitting process to clear
the way for dredging, says Stacey LoMedico, San Diego's Parks and
Recreation director. But that process will probably take years, and in
the meantime, the battle rages on.

Today is quiet: About 50 brown and gray seals rest on the beach.
Several signs warn that seals are protected by federal law; other
signs, posted by animal-rights activists, beg visitors to "Respect The
Seals and Other Seal Watchers By Not Going On The Beach." On this
perfect beach day, Children's Pool sits unused, at least by humans.

But on weekends, Children's Pool becomes a war zone, the site of an
ongoing showdown between animal-rights activists and the divers and
swimmers who don't want their beach access trumped by pinnipeds. Over
the July 4 holiday weekend, pro-public-access activists used a
bullhorn to encourage visitors to use the beach. One pup died after
reportedly being stepped on; SeaWorld rescued another.

"It's pretty wild," says Tom Sauer, a retired attorney and longtime La
Jolla resident who believes the beach should be returned to the
people. On weekends, "People stand here yelling at each other," he
says. "I don't come down here then. I don't like the vibe."

•••

Children's Pool is one of the only urban beaches in the country where
harbor seals congregate – this, despite attention from tens of
thousands of tourists each month.

"This is a rare thing," says Bryan Pease, founder and general counsel
of the San Diego-based Animal Protection and Rescue League. "This is a
place to see seals behaving naturally in their natural environment."

But how natural is it for seals to give birth a stone's throw from
pricey boutiques, four-star restaurants, and luxury hotels?

"It's just the evolution of the coastline," says Mr. Pease. "No one
predicted this 80 years ago, when they built the sea wall."

That 300-foot-long stone wall was the gift of philanthropist Ellen
Browning Scripps, who hoped to make the beach a safe place for
children to play and swim. In 1931 the state deeded the land to the
city of San Diego with a few conditions, including its exclusive use
as a public park and children's pool. But the same wall that made this
sandy nook tranquil enough for children has, over time, made it
attractive to seals.

Advocates of the seals' presence point out that the deed doesn't say
seals can't use the beach. And the seals, after all, have been in this
area for thousands of years. "Expecting them not to use the beach when
it's a prime haul-out [resting] area is asking too much," says Vicky
Cornish, vice president for marine-wildlife conservation at Ocean
Conservancy in Washington D.C.

As for humans and seals sharing the beach, Mr. Sauer says simply, "It
doesn't work." Even what to call the area is a point of contention.
Pro-seal activists call it Casa Beach; pro-public-access activists
call it Children's Pool.
Sauer, walking along the coastline, points out the route he swims
nearly every day. When he gets to Children's Pool, the beach is empty
except for a few seals.

"This is what shared use looks like," he says. Pro-seal activists man
an information table and hand out brochures. Several times each week,
they videotape pro-public-access advocates who walk or run close to
seals on their way into Children's Pool. Those swims – tainted water
and all – are part of the opposite side's effort to flush seals back
into the water and make a point about public access.

If human beachcombers are rare, that may be because it's not entirely
clear what they're allowed to do. While some signs warn people to
leave seals alone, others read: "There is no law against using this
public beach." The rules are confusing, the signs and the activists
sometimes intimidating. Most people keep to the top of the stone wall
and to walkways above the beach – a sight that continually frustrates
Sauer.

"This beach belongs to the public … for full recreational use," he
says. "Seals don't need the level of protection where we tell people,
'You can't swim on this beach, you can't walk on this beach.' Look, I
love the seals; my wife loves the seals. But they can go to the other
side of the beach, to the reefs…. We have a colony here of 200 – they
won't be gone."

Experts say Sauer is probably right. Seals are found widely in the
North Pacific, from Alaska to Baja California. Pam Yochem, a marine
biologist at San Diego's Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, estimates
that there are about 1,000 seal haul-out sites in California, with
four in southern California.

These days a security guard spends weekends on the beach, charged with
keeping the place accessible to people and keeping the people from
harassing the seals.

On a recent Saturday, a group of cyclists from Oceanside, Calif.,
stand on a walkway overlooking Children's Pool. "It's a lot more fun
watching seals than watching kids," says one.

A man from Amsterdam photographs a pup and says, "There are other
spots to swim, but only one spot for the animals."

Matt Hough, a San Diegan, sits enjoying the view. The mere mention of
the ongoing tug-of-war irritates him. "The city should just take down
the wall," he says. "If the seals stay, they stay. There's tons of
shoreline here. Really, there are safer places to take kids to swim."

•••

The next day, I take my own kids to Children's Pool, and the
controversy becomes a family debate. About 50 seals are on the beach,
and a few pups flop-hop around. My daughter, who is 12, snaps photos
and finds it "weird" that we're reluctant to go down the steps. "I
think it should be for the kids. It's such a special place for
swimming," she says.

My son believes the seals should stay. "You can't control nature. It
does whatever it's going to do," he says, sounding awfully
contemplative for a 9-year-old. "And they are really cute."