I do believe it, because if you do the math, it's less than one-twentieth of their income. Of course, any money is money, and I'm not trying to trivialize income in rural communities in Newfoundland. I grew up in one.
That said, this is an industry that could be phased out through a licence retirement program by the federal government in a heartbeat, if it chose to do so. That would probably put more money into the pockets of the people participating.
And I have spoken to sealers. They are open to this idea. Sealers don't like going out there and killing seals either. It's a tough job, it's a dangerous job, and it's not fun work. We could find better solutions.
The seal hunt in the past five years has accounted for less than 3% of the landed value of the fishery. It's not the economic solution for poverty in outports. It never will be the economic solution.