Good day, Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to speak before this committee.
I listened to much of the testimony already provided to the committee and to those who spoke or presented at the seal summit in St. John's last fall. It seems to me that most everybody is in agreement that there are too many seals in the water. The current quota for harp seals in Newfoundland is 400,000, and DFO tells us that we need to harvest a minimum of 425,000 just to maintain the current population.
The real question would be that if we are currently only harvesting between 5% and 10% of the total allowable catch, how do we get the seals out of the water? Some people call for a cull, but most people are against one, as it could completely collapse the existing sealing industry and darken Canada's image. Other businesses in other industries could feel those repercussions.
Then it falls on the seal markets. Are the markets there? How big are they? Can they sustain 400,000 to 500,000 seals harvested each year? Do we have the infrastructure to handle the volume?
The markets are there, but there are two very different markets. There is the local and domestic market, which has line-ups for days for seal flippers at fish trucks and seal oil capsules sold in drugstores and grocery stores. However, these flippers are secondary to the valuable parts of the seal, and the volume of capsules that could be sold domestically could never handle a 400,000-seal harvest, so then we look to international markets.
There are large markets in China, Japan, Korea and the GCC countries, just to name a few. There are markets for skins, oil, meat and organs.
I've heard the questions asked during these committee meetings multiple times: What is the disconnect? What are we missing that we can't move these products into these markets that everybody keeps talking about?
For an economic market to thrive and grow, especially internationally, it needs three major components: It has to have a consistent supply of a consistent quality for a consistent price.
A consistent supply we can do. The infrastructure is there, both in the vessels and in the processing plants, to handle great volumes of seals. It's already there. I can provide you with more details at any time you want.
Quality is a big one. The markets demand quality. Our international pharmaceutical customers tell us that our oil naturally needs to be pharmaceutical grade, and in the case of China, encapsulated, bottled and with the legal paperwork to export there.
If we are to sell seal meat on the global market, then we need to treat it like we do crab or salmon. The meat needs to be processed to a value-added level. Again, please feel free to ask me to give you more detail on that.
Seal fur has long been the backbone of the seal industry. Its fur has been sought out and sold across the world. As a previous guest to this committee, Merv Wiseman, pointed out, the fur industry as a whole has suffered of late. However, the fur is not the only viable part of the skin; there is currently a sizable demand for seal leather. It has a very attractive, unique pattern, but also has the second-strongest tensile strength of any leather, behind only wallaby.
If the supply is there and the quality is there, there has to be a consistent price in order to get buyers to build their own sales networks. That's largely what happened in the early 2000s, when over 300,000 seals were harvested every year, and then levels fell to where they are now. The prices exploded, and the market collapsed.
It is imperative that everybody in the industry work together, which includes processors, harvesters and government. I can provide examples on how some of this collaboration has already begun.
Full utilization is another point that's repeated and questioned during these meetings. Perhaps “increased” utilization is a better way to put it. However, the answer is yes, far more of the seal can be utilized than just the fur. Exactly what and how largely depends on the age of the seal.
The last question should be, how can the Government of Canada help?
If we're going to continue to have these meetings to discuss what to do with the seal industry, then let's create a small strategic trade group with Global Affairs, DFO and processors—small and precise. The government can also fund and promote clinical trails on the benefits of seal oil. The vast majority of current omega-3 studies are on fish oils.
We have ideas, which we have spoken to members of DFO about, on how processors and harvesters can collaborate with DFO to collect data more efficiently. That will give a broader picture of what is happening, and with an eye to climate change to stay ahead of what will happen.
Thank you for listening. I look forward to your questions.