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Grønlandsudvalget 2014-15 (1. samling)
KOM (2015) 0045 Bilag 4
Offentligt

UPDATED DATA TO:

MANAGEMENT AND UTILIZATION

OF SEALS IN GREENLAND

Addendum to:

White Paper on Management and Utilization of Seals in Greenland (April 2012)

THE GOVERNMENT OF GREENLAND

MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, HUNTING & AGRICULTURE

FEBRUARY 2015

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Table of content:

1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................

2. CURRENT CATCH LEVELS .................................................................................................................

3. THE COMMERCIAL TRADE OF SEALSKINS IN GREENLAND ...................................................

4. REGULATIONS ON SEALS IN THE EU ...........................................................................................

EGULATION

(EC)

1007/2009

OF THE

UROPEAN

ARLIAMENT AND OF THE

OUNCIL OF

EPTEMBER

2009

ON TRADE IN

SEAL PRODUCTS

..................................................................................................................................................... 11

OMMISSION

EGULATION

(EU)

737/2010

UGUST

2010

LAYING DOWN DETAILED RULES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION

OF REGULATION

1007/2009 ............................................................................................................................. 12

HE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF THE

BAN AFTER THE

WTO

RULING

............................................................................... 12

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1. Introduction

This document is an addendum to the

White Paper on Management and Utilization of Seals in Greenland

from April 2012 and the two documents should be read together.

The main focus is on updated data of table 1-5 and appropriate figures.

Box 1: Abundant seal populations

Harp seal:

Advice on sustainable use on harp seal is given by a working group under the International Council

for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES/NAFO: WGHARP). The working group consists of scientist from Norway,

Canada, Greenland and Russia. Roughly every fifth year the pup production is estimated by surveys. The total

number of seals in the stock is then calculated based on the survey estimate and data on the age-distribution in

the stock, age of sexual maturity, the reproduction rate of the adult females and data on the catches.

In many years the working group calculated quotas small enough to allow the stocks to grow. This led to a

steady growth in periods when the quotas were taken and strong growth in periods with small commercial

catches. The stock that give birth in the Greenland Sea seem to continue its growth, but the west Atlantic

population that whelp around Newfoundland now seem to have reached the carrying capacity of its habitat. This

means that the fecundity of the seals has been significantly reduced, so that the population no longer produces a

surplus every year.

New management principles, which allow a reduction of the seal populations has therefore been introduced. The

reduction is limited to a magnitude that secures a large and healthy population, which will produce up to the

maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of the population. A population around the carrying capacity produce no

surplus (pup production roughly equals natural mortality). A surplus is created and increase as the population is

reduced down to a point with the maximum sustainable yield. For harp seals this is a point (believed to be

around 70% of the carrying capacity level), when both the population and the reproduction is high.

The new management principles allow a reduction of the populations to 70% of their maximum levels. Quotas

can therefore be set based on ecological or socioeconomic considerations as long as the population is kept above

70% of Nmax, which for the West Atlantic population has been set to 7.8 million - the level found in 2008. If the

stock gets below 70 %, of the maximal size, a management plan should be initiated with the purpose of

increasing the stock above 70 % again. If the stock gets below 50 %, further protection measures should be

initiated, and if the stock gets below 30 % all hunting should be stopped. This type of management should only

be used for stocks with reliable and plenty data.

ICES/NAFO working group on harp and hooded seals estimated the population in the Northwest Atlantic to be

approximately 7.4 million seals in 2014. This is a reduction of 400,000 seals since 2008, but this reduction has

mainly been caused by low reproduction and high natural mortality (many pups dying in years with poor ice

conditions in the whelping areas). The total allowable catch (TAC) for Canada is set to 400,000 (since 2011). ,

but catches in Canada has since 2008 been far below the TAC. In 2013, Greenland caught about 79,600 harp

seals while Canada caught about 94,000 harp seals, less than 44 % of the TAC.

Ringed seal:

In 1996 a working group established by The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission’s

(NAMMCO) Scientific Committee concluded that Greenland’s current take of ringed seal was sustainable. Three

substantial arguments for this conclusion were that the current hunting pressure has been maintained for a

number of years without visible signs of a decline in the population, that Greenland’s take is particularly made

up of males and very young individuals and that the ringed seal’s very wide and even distribution across most of

the Arctic limits large-scale overexploitation. Even though ringed seals are widely dispersed and apparently

capable of surviving under very severe ice conditions, they are considered vulnerable to sudden changes in ice

coverage.

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Box 1: continued

The total number of ringed seals is still unknown, but is estimated to 6-7 million. Among them, approx. 1 million

are of the subspecies

Pusa hispida ochotensis,

while the other three southern subspecies together only constitute

in the region of 10,000 individuals. The estimate of Arctic ringed seals is about 5 million.

Hooded seal:

ICES/NAFO working group on harp and hooded seals estimates the current population in the

Northwest Atlantic at 600,000 seals in 2005 (last assessment), which is an increase from 478,000 in 1965. In

Canada the TAC on hooded seals older than bluebacks has been at 8,200 seals since 2008. It is, however, mainly

the blue back skin that is of interest for the sealers and in recent years less than hundred hooded seals have been

caught annually in Canada. No hooded seals were reported taken in 2013 and according to the preliminary

estimates for 2014 only 7 hooded seal was taken. In 2013, Greenland caught 1,498 hooded seals, which is the

lowest catch since 1962. The population is not considered endangered.

The Greenland Sea stock of hooded seal was severely overexploited by Norwegian sealers in the years after the

Second World War. It is presently at a level around 80,000, which is believed to be less than 30 % of former

levels and all commercial hunting has stopped. Since 2007 only few seals have been taken for scientific purposes

and a small insignificant number (since 2006 less than 10/yr.) is taken by hunters from the Greenland settlement

Ittoqqortoormiit.

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2. Current catch levels

The number of paid full time hunter’s licenses has been stable on app. 2,000 over the last five years,

while the number of paid leisure time hunter’ s licenses has stabilized around 4,300.

The number of both full time and leisure time hunters hunting seals show a gradually decrease of 29

% in the years 2006-2013, figure 1 with the highest reduction of 38 % for leisure time hunters hunting

seals and 21 % reduction in full time hunters hunting seals. In Greenland we do not use the distinction

“full time seal-hunter” and ”part time seal-hunter” because most hunters rely on both fishing and

hunting of different animal species. Since 2009 a hunter has to have a license as a full time hunter in

order to qualify for selling the skins to the tannery Great Greenland A/S. A large number of the

hunters use the possibility to sell skins to the tannery in total a couple of months a year. It is for many

hunters a very important secondary income. Approximate 100 hunters make more than 50,000 DKKR

(EUR 6,695) yearly on sealskins.

Figure 1. The evolution of the number of hunters catching seals from 2006 to 2013.

Source: APNN Piniarneq database

Hunting seals with nets

From October to the end of March, netting is the prevailing method since it is impossible to use any

other technique during the dark winter months. The use of nets for catching ringed seals seems to

have been introduced in Greenland by Europeans a few hundred years ago. Especially in the northern

parts of Greenland, where most ringed seals are caught (58 % of all catches), netting constitutes an

important method to catch ringed seal during winter due to the dark periods and ice conditions. In

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North Greenland using nets under the ice constitutes about one third of the total harvest of ringed

seals in the area, and two thirds off all net catches takes place in this area, table 1.Using riffles is not an

alternative since it is completely impossible to see the seals in the dark. However, hunting with nets

becomes less effective relative to the increase in light during the spring. The success of netting under

the ice also depends on the duration and stability of the firm ice cover, the amount of snow, and the

frequency of strong wind, all of which influence the possibilities for setting and tending the nets.

Table 1. The table shows in percentage the distribution of the hunt of ringed seals by use of nets or

riffle within the specific region, between the regions and in total for Greenland per region for the

years 1993-2013.

Regions

North Greenland

Disko Bay

West Greenland

South Greenland

East Greenland

Distribution of catches Distribution of catches

with nets / riffle

within the region

between the regions

37 % / 63 %

23 % / 77 %

22 % / 78 %

11 % / 89 %

21 % / 79 %

71 % / 53 %

12 % / 17 %

5%/8%

2%/6%

10 % / 16 %

Distribution of total catches

between the regions

58 %

16 %

14 %

Source: APNN Piniarneq database

From table 2 below, it is obvious that harp and ringed seals are the most important seals to the hunters

in Greenland. These two species account for about 98 % of the total harvest since 2009. Where the

catch of ringed seals seems to be quite stable over the years, the amount of harps seals caught is much

more fluctuating. Previously, ringed seal was the most important species in relation to food supply

and income, without any doubt. However, the demand from the fur industry has now made it more

attractive to hunt harp seals since Greenlandic hunters in some years were offered a slightly better

price for sealskins from harp seals compared to sealskins from ringed seals, as prizes are fixed while

the skins are subsidized by the Government of Greenland. The increasing numbers of harp seals have

also played an important role in the choice of hunting method.

Table 2. The Annual catches of seals in Greenland from 1993-2013.

Year

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Ringed seal

77.154

72.824

79.160

89.939

80.207

78.748

83.345

80.302

78.437

82.504

80.646

Harp seal

56.886

57.893

63.263

74.676

69.591

82.217

95.017

99.801

86.763

67.725

67.607

Hooded seal

6.982

8.142

7.179

9.891

7.492

6.335

7.455

5.844

6.514

4.806

6.353

Bearded seal

1.808

1.974

2.020

2.132

2.339

2.349

2.334

2.694

2.350

1.965

1.716

Total

142.830

140.833

151.622

176.638

159.629

169.649

188.151

188.641

174.064

157.000

156.322

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2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Total

77.429

92.063

86.274

71.269

70.536

65.734

61.643

62.279

60.656

63.144

1.594.293

72.245

93.494

95.954

84.275

82.187

73.454

90.996

74.377

60.855

79.597

1.628.873

5.853

4.156

4.842

3.294

2.606

1.987

2.144

2.069

1.707

1.498

107.149

1.366

1.454

1.792

1.568

1.437

1.259

1.406

1.302

1.100

1.086

37.451

156.893

191.167

188.862

160.406

156.766

142.434

156.189

140.027

124.318

145.325

3.367.765

Source: APNN Piniarneq database

The annual harvest of both seal species varies from year to year, especially due to severe fluctuations

in ice and weather conditions, but changes in distribution or localized abundance may also have an

effect. As opposed to ringed seals, which primarily are caught in Northwest and East Greenland, the

majority of harp seals are caught along the entire west coast of Greenland.

Figure 2. The major harvest of harp seals occurs in the months from July to November – a busy time

for the sealers on the west coast of Greenland.

Source: APNN Piniarneq database.

The major harvest of harp seals occurs in July to November, where they have dispersed along the

entire west coast of Greenland and to the southeast as well, figure 2. During the months of September

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to November, harp seals have gained a thick layer of blubber why the struck and lost at this time of

the year is much lower than during spring and early summer.

Regarding ringed seals, for all regions in Greenland, great inter-annual variability is also found, but

not to same extent as the harp seal. The inter-annual variation in the catch of ringed seals is also

related to the actual weather and ice conditions. For instance, the weather and ice conditions in late

April-June will determine the chances of hunting seals basking on the ice or seals occurring at the ice

edge. Figure 3 shows how the catch of ringed seal varies during the different seasons.

Figure 3. As opposed to the hunt of harp seals, the hunting of ringed seals is spread more equally

throughout the year – providing a steady supply of meat.

Source: APNN Piniarneq database.

The peak season for the catch of ringed seal varies between regions. For Greenland as a whole, most

ringed seals are taken from November to May, which reflects the peak season in the northern regions

(where the major part of the catch is taken), while catches are relatively small during the open water

season. In the southernmost region, however, the majority of ringed seals are caught between May

and August, when ringed seals come to the area with drift ice from the east coast.

In the period from 1993 - 2013, Greenlandic hunters caught in average about 5,100 hooded seals per

year of which about 99% originate from the Northwest Atlantic populations in The Gulf of St.

Lawrence, The Front of Newfoundland and the Davis Strait. The remaining percentage of hooded

seals caught by Greenlandic hunters is considered to originate from the Greenland Sea population.

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These seals are caught by hunters in the remote settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit on the Northeast coast

of Greenland.

Looking at the catch of all seals in the period from 1993 to 2013, catches by leisure time hunters

account for 12-23 % of the annual catch, figure 4. Hunting of seals continues to be an important part of

everyday life and culture in Greenland. Even though people could afford to buy seal meat at the local

open air market “Kalaaliaraq”, for some it is almost considered an obligation to be self-sufficient with

seal meat. Taking expenses to gas, ammunition and time spend on the hunt into consideration, it may

be cheaper to buy the meat at local market, but some people prefer hunting the seals on their own and

prepare it as they like.

Figure 4. In most years, leisure time hunters account for about 1/5 of the harvest of seals in

Greenland, which underpins the cultural and socio-economic importance of hunting seals.

Source: APNN Piniarneq database.

3. The commercial trade of sealskins in Greenland

The skins from just over one third of all caught seals in recent years are sold by the hunters to the

tannery of Great Greenland A/S (a share-holder company), located in Qaqortoq in South Greenland,

table 3. The Government of Greenland is the owner of the tannery and it is today a modern facility

using state of the art technology in the processing of sealskins. For decades, local knowledge on

tanning sealskins have been accumulated at the tannery and it is currently one of the world’s leading

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in producing high quality furs and leather from sealskins. Hides from caribou, sheep and arctic winter

fox are also processed at the tannery, but only to a minor extent.

In 2014, 39 people were employed at the tannery - making it one of the largest companies in South

Greenland. Due to the economically restrains the company has reduced its employees from 50 in 2008.

In addition, the tannery operates 47 trading stations all over the country, making it possible for

hunters in small communities to sell their sealskins. Having 47 trading stations spread all over the

country is only possible through the government subsidies paid to the Inuit hunters, which is

administrated by the tannery. In the 1990-ies the company operated about 70 trading stations. Since

the anti-sealskins campaigns in 1980’s, it has been necessary to subsidy the hunters in Greenland since

world market prices collapsed as a result of the campaigns.

During the end of the 1990s world market prices became more favourable and the tannery was able to

offer better prices to the hunters. As a result of the positive development, the Government of

Greenland intended to reduce the subsidies. Yet, the result of the written declaration 0038/2006

together with regulations no 1007/2009 and no 737/2010 on banning of import and export of sealskins

in the EU quickly showed it-self. Since 2008, the Government of Greenland six times had to give an

annual capital grant of 5-12 mill. DKKR (0.67-1.6 mill. EUR) to Great Greenland A/S due to the crisis

in the sealskin industry.

In 2013, with a service contract on 25,7 mill. DKKR between the Government of Greenland and Great

Greenland A/S 16,6 mill. DKKR were paid directly to the commercial hunters in subsidies –

corresponding to about 10,000 DKKR / 1,340 EUR to each and every full time seal hunter in

Greenland. This may sound like an insignificant amount, but it makes it possible for the hunters with

this money to invest in new equipment, tools, ammunition, maintenance and so on. The subsidy in

2014 is 26,7 mill. DKKR with 16,7 mill. DKKR to the hunters. The ratio of the service contract amount

to the tannery has increased since 2009 due to the more and more severe economic situation of the

tannery. Since 2009 Great Greenland A/S has not been able to pay for the skins them self, so any

trading is solely based on the subsidy from the Government via the service contract.

Table 3. A summary of the development of seal caught and sealskins traded to the tannery from

2006-2013.

2006

Number of seals

caught

Number of

sealskins traded

Percentage of

sealskins sold to

the tannery

188,862

109,201

2007

160,406

85,468

2008

156,766

81,580

2009

142,434

77,143

2010

156,189

69,169

2011

140,027

51,826

2012

124,318

34,619

2013

145,325

50,847

58%

53%

52%

54%

44%

37%

28%

35%

Source: Great Greenland A/S and APNN Piniarneq database

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From table 3 it is clear that on average 82,000 skins or 54 % of the annual total harvest is not sold to the

tannery, but used for private purposes or disposed of. This indicates that the seal hunt in Greenland is

both subsistence oriented and a commercial activity. Seals are hunted primarily for their meat and

skin, but the production of handicrafts, clothes and traditional artefacts are important by-products of

the hunt. The commercial skin trade in Greenland reached almost 116,000 sealskins in 2005, but has

decreased to its lowest point in 2012 to 34,600 skins and an estimated 52,000 skins in 2015.

Over the last few years, Greenland has been able to improve the quality of skins through education of

hunters, traders and a modernization of the tannery, while at the same time working on a reduction in

the government subsidies from app. 32 mill. DKKR in 2005 to app. 26 mill. ten years later. If not

subsidised by the Greenland Government, the hunter families in Greenland will once again be the first

victims by the trade ban. The EU ban even with the Inuit exemption is ruining an important economy

for Greenland – one based on the sustainable use of an abundant renewable resource, table 4.

Table 4. The data illustrates how the trade of sealskins in EU experienced a huge reduction,

highlighting the effect the ban is having on the sale to the international market.

Number of sealskins sold

on the international

market#

84,700

59,800

82,554

43,603

33,839

6,453

16,257

16,566

42,858

41,000§

Export value of

sealskins and

products in mill.

DKKR#

42.6

52.6

57.7

18.3

7.4

2,0

3.4

3.7

7.6

10.0§

Year

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

71 %

69 %

66 %

43 %

16 %

22 %

26 %

30 %

38 %

Outside EU

29 %

31 %

34 %

57 %

84 %

78 %

74 %

70 %

62 %

Source: Great Greenland A/S. #: Data from the annual reports. Na: Not available due to shift in ownership and

collaboration with company responsible for the sale. § Uncertainty in data due to stop of collaboration with

company responsible for the sale.

4. Regulations on seals in the EU

Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009

on trade in seal products

Through the regulation no 1007/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September

2009, a ban on import of seal skins to the European Union or bans on the processing and

manufacturing of seal products in member countries was imposed, and entered into force on 20

November 2009. The regulation followed a proposal presented by the European Commission on 23

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July 2008. Although this ban contains a specific exemption for seal products from Inuit hunting, it has

a severe impact on the global sealskin market.

Commission Regulation (EU) No 737/2010 of 10 August 2010 laying down detailed rules for the

implementation of regulation No 1007/2009

On 10 August 2010, the Commission adopted an implementing of regulation no 1007/2009 and as the

ban itself, it entered into force on 20 August 2010. The implementing regulation sets out the conditions

for the placing on the EU market of seals products.

Because of the Inuit exemption sealskins from Greenland can still be exported to the EU and placed on

the market if the skins are certified according to regulation no 737/2010. The tannery Great Greenland

A/S sends to the Ministry of Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture a filled out certificate accompanied

by a list of batch numbers for all the concerned seal products. The Ministry controls and signs it before

it is returned to the tannery again. The Ministry keeps a record in hard copy and digitally of all signed

certificates, table 5.

Table 5. Number of signed certificates from Greenland in accordance with regulation No 737/2010

from August 2010 to 2014.

Year

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Source: APNN.

Number of certificates

Number of sealskins exported from Greenland

4.712

27.125

44,611

59,943

50,054

The latest development of the EU ban after the WTO ruling

Both acts of “the EU seal regime” were challenged by Canada and Norway in the World Trade

Organisation (WTO) in the dispute on EC – Measures Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of

Seal Products (DS400 and DS401). On 18 June 2014, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) adopted

the Panel and Appellate Body reports.

While the WTO reports concluded that the ban on seal products can, in principle, be justified for

moral concerns regarding the welfare of seals, the WTO took issue with the two exceptions, the Inuit

Communities (IC) exception and the Marine Resource Management (MRM) exception.

The MRM exception was found not to be justified as the possible difference in the commercial

dimension of commercial hunts and MRM hunts (small scale, non-profit) was not sufficient to justify

the distinction.

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With regard to the IC exception, while in principle reflecting a legitimate distinction, the Appellate

Body ruled, that some elements of its design and application amounted to “arbitrary and unjustifiable

discrimination”.

On 10 July 2014 the European Union (EU) notified the DSB that it intends to implement the

recommendations and rulings of the DSB in this dispute in a manner that respects its WTO

obligations. In the proposal it does not indicate its willingness to respects the Rights of Indigenous

Peoples adopted by the United Nations (UN).

On 5 September 2014, the EU, Canada and Norway agreed that the reasonable period for

implementing the DSB recommendations and rulings would be 16 months. Accordingly, the

reasonable period of time will expire on 18 October 2015.

The purpose of the EU legislative proposal is to implement the DSB recommendations and rulings

with regard to the Basic Regulation. It also creates the legal basis for bringing Regulation (EU) No

737/2010 in compliance with the mentioned rulings. The concerns regarding the MRM exception are

remedied by the proposal to remove the MRM exception from the Basic Regulation.

The concerns relating to the design and application of the IC exception are addressed by modifying

the exception, in particular by linking its use to the respect of animal welfare and providing for a limit

to the placing of the market of seal products if the scale of the hunt or other circumstances are such as

to indicate that the hunt is being conducted primarily for commercial purposes.

In addition, experts from the EU Commission are working together with experts from Canada in order

to set up the necessary attestation system to enable Canadian Inuit to make use of the Inuit exception

under the EU seal regime, as recommended.

The EU Commission has decided not to make any impact assessment of the EU regulation No

737/2010 of 10 August 2010 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of regulation No

1007/2009 since the implementation 5 years ago. Greenland is of the opinion that an assessment has

been on place due to the severe negative consequences shown in the above mentioned figures.

Greenland found the outlined EU Commission deadline as of lack of understanding for the serious

situation and for the impacts from the limited time to prepare and make impact assessment in

Greenland and the real impacts the proposal will give for all Inuit Communities, if adopted.