Seals in Greenland

Great Greenland A/S now have 290,000 sealskins in stock as a result of decreasing sales – a stock so large that it outnumbers demands for many years to come.

Mandag d. 16. december 2013
WWF
Emnekreds: Sælfangst.

Great Greenland A/S now have 290,000 sealskins in stock as a result of decreasing sales – a stock so large that it outnumbers demands for many years to come.
Recommendations
  • The EU must take responsibility for the unintended but very negative side effects that the import ban has had on large parts of the inhabitants of Greenland.
  • The EU should address the impacts of the import ban on seal products on the Greenlandic people and the Greenlandic sealskin business, and act in response by informing the European public about the Inuit exemption.
  • The EU should support and cooperate with Greenland to inform about how to understand the ban and the Inuit exemption and to mitigate additional ban policies in non-EU countries.
  • The EU should cover the costs of establishing a potential working group consisting of stakeholders, e.g. officials from the Government of Greenland, EU officials, the existing certification system on sealskin from Greenland with respect to costs, control, administration, etc.
  • In continuation hereof, the working group could consider an expansion of the existing certification label or the development of a new certification program for products of the sustainable Greenlandic hunt of seals, perhaps drawing inspiration from MSC, the certification program for sustainable seafood. Such a certification could include and guarantee sustainable hunting levels, best practices into hunting methods, full utilization of catches, low struck-and-lost rates, animal welfare, and hunter experience, expertise and security, and as such be a way forward to meet the increasing demands from conscious consumers in the EU as well as worldwide. The EU should cover the costs of such a certification program.


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Seals in Greenland