July 8, 1013 – Our friend Magnus Petersson in Sweden writes to us that various media outlets reporting that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has asked the government to authorize a seal hunt to limit a growing seal population along the Swedish coasts that they say is damaging the fishing industry, reports Swedish Radio news. The likelihood of an approval by authorities is expected soon. The reaction from the EU parliament will be an interesting one as they must justify the ban of imported seal products based on Canada’s humane harvest of seals in the face of any new amendments to their existing legislation.
Magnus’ writes:
“I live in Sweden, and it seems very likely that our government will approve of a fully licensed seal hunt in Swedish waters to protect the fishing industry and the cod stocks. This is getting big news here, and fishermen all around the country supports this proposal by the Enviornmental Protection Agency that is currently under review by the government. It was the government itself that gave the Environmental Protection Agency to research whether it would be sustainable to have a licensed seal hunt or not, and after months of research, the EPA found out that a licensed seal hunt is indeed both sustainable for the seal populations and necessary for fish conservation, the EPA has given green light to a fully licensed seal hunt. The government just have to approve it now. This has nothing to do with the current small scale regional culls of seals in Sweden, this is about a proposed much bigger licensed hunt that has been given green light by the Enviornmental Protection Agency, an agency of the Swedish Government. It is still unclear how big the quotas will be, targted species are grey seals, harbor seals and ringed seals.”
If you have any questions, email or contact the Swedish EPA
Swedish Radio article:
registrator@swedishepa.se
Phone +46 10 698 10 00
Postal address:
Naturvårdsverket
SE-106 48 Stockholm