The harp seal controversy as served has a cash cow for environmental groups attempting to
raise money for their international organizations. A less publicized truth is that
the entire ocean ecology is in grave danger. The exclusive protection of one
predator species has only led to a more pronounced imbalance in a system
that as suffered decades of human abuse. Any species human or otherwise,
given the opportunity, will attempt to dominate the habitat to their own
detriment. Natural systems have the means to limit reproduction and maintain
an equilibrium to the benefit of all of their components.
Animals should be respected and humane harvesting practices have to be maintained.
However it is wrong for well intentioned supporters of conservation groups to assume
that issues of this type are black and white. The local resentment towards some
conservation groups because of their attacking of local culture while all but destroying
the sealing industry hurts the legitimate conservation efforts of local groups.
With the prospects of such modern day phenomenen as global warming, soil erosion,
and epidemic mad cow and hoof and mouth disease, the importance of fish
resources as a global food source is even more significant. The island was settled because of its
proximity to the worlds richest fishing grounds in the Northwest Atlantic. The traditional
inshore harvest was a model for sustainable resource use and economic independance.
Federal and foreign interests have destroyed this gift to the world and a superior way
of life. The native people and the animals have all been pawns in a larger game.
The world should not judge the victims of greed and environmental abuse as harshly
as it judges its perpetrators.
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