After Bloody Seal Hunt, Canadian Seafood Boycott Proposed
Just to warn you,the pictures below in the link are graphic.
After Bloody Seal Hunt, Canadian Seafood Boycott Proposed
Humane Society Wants To Stop Annual Seal Hunt
POSTED: 5:51 am CDT April 5, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Humane Society of the United States is asking American restaurants and consumers to boycott Canadian seafood to pressure that government to stop the annual seal hunt.
The announcement of the boycott Monday coincided with the start of country-of-origin labeling for seafood products sold in the United States, which will let shoppers know where their seafood comes from.
Legal Sea Foods, a 31-restaurant chain based in Boston, and Down East Seafoods, a distributor to about 200 hotels and restaurants, have joined the boycott. The Humane Society has urged more than 5,000 U.S. seafood distributors to follow suit.
"Americans have repeatedly used their purchasing power to bring about significant improvements in animal welfare," said Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle.
The hunt, which animal rights activists say is needlessly cruel, has been the target of protests since the 1960s. When this year's hunt began last week, thousands of sealers armed with clubs, rifles and spears clashed with protesters arriving by helicopter.
Canada says the decades-long practice brings badly needed income to impoverished fishing communities, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China. The United States bans imports of seal products.
"It's a livelihood for many of the aboriginals in Newfoundland and Labrador," said Terry Colli, a Canadian embassy spokesman. "They don't have much in the way of an alternative economic endeavor."
Canada accounted for the largest share of U.S. seafood imports in 2003, about $3.1 billion, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
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i think its kind of weird to boycott ALL seafood.I know lots of restraunts down here get there seafood from canada.
