For one thing, I think the approach they're taking is wrong. It's an approach that is long and drawn out. By the time it's resolved to any measure of satisfaction for either side, the sealing industry will be dead in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. If we don't soon start getting some of these seals landed—the 400,000 quota—and keep the herd to a sustainable level, which most people agree is in the five million to 5.5 million range—which means we have at least 2.5 million to three million too many out there..... They need to be brought down. Seals consume over 40 times the amount of the commercial catch. The commercial catch in Newfoundland and Labrador, if you add up every pound of fish landed by every fisherman, is about 270,000 tonnes. Seals consume 1.4 tonnes per seal per year. Multiply that by 10 million seals and you have 14 million tonnes of food coming out of the ocean to feed our seal population.
On June 11th, 2014. See this statement in context.