Sheryl Fink: Anthony Bourdain is dead wrong on the seal hunt
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had Twitter all a-flutter when he came out smacking his lips in support of the seal hunt.
As so often happens when celebrities wade into unfamiliar issues, his tweets display a gross lack of understanding of Canada, its geography, its people, and its wildlife.
On top of mixing up two distinct geographic areas, Bourdain fails to understand the difference between the massive commercial slaughter of baby harp seals for their fur—to which IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) is very much opposed—and the subsistence hunt for ringed seals by Inuit for food and other purposes—which IFAW has never campaigned against. So, we wanted to set the record straight on a few things…
I’m all for protecting seals, but a total ban dooms the indigenous people above arctic circle to death or relocation. @dannybowien consider
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 28, 2013
There isn’t a ‘total ban’ on Inuit seal products, in fact there is no ban at all.
We’re guessing that Bourdain is referring to the EU ban on seal products—but the Inuit have a full exemption, and precious few Inuit seal skins were ever exported to the EU in the first place.
In fact, pretty much no one is campaigning against Inuit sealing. If he is referring to the Canadian seafood boycott being run in the United States, the link to Inuit is pretty much… non-existent.
Read this before suggesting First Nation people adjust their diets to our comfy standards http://t.co/z6rGHwa05y
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 28, 2013
Huh? Did Bourdain suggest Inuit were being asked to give up eating seals? Again, Inuit have a constitutional right to hunt and eat seals and no one is asking them to give it up.
To hold the entire Canadian seafood industry hostage over sustainable, absolutely necessary tribal practice is ill considered.
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 28, 2013
Here, Bourdain entirely confuses the commercial seal hunt with the Inuit seal hunt.
While the Inuit hunt may be a ‘tribal practice’ and ‘absolutely necessary’ for Inuit, the commercial seal hunt is nothing of the sort—it is a part-time endeavour that occurs 2-3 weeks of the year, where fishermen kill as many seals as they can to make a bit of extra cash.
The Canadian government’s own data shows that seals are killed for their skins and flippers, the rest of the animal is thrown overboard like garbage.
Unlike Inuit sealing, the commercial hunt is a hunt primarily for fur, which is used to make unnecessary luxury products for export that few people can afford.
There is also the outcome of uncontrolled seal populations on fisheries to consider. See codfish…
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) October 28, 2013
For a chef, Anthony Bourdain displays a shocking ignorance of where his marine “food” comes from. It is disappointing to see such hogwash repeated by someone who should know a whole lot about the human impacts of consuming fish.
Seals are not responsible for the collapse of cod, and there is no scientific data to show that ‘controlling’ seal populations will help fish stocks. Human overfishing is to blame for depleted fish stocks—not seals. Check out our video on the subject.
IFAW has been campaigning to end the commercial exploitation of seals since 1969, correcting misinformation and bearing witness to what happens to seals on the ice.
We hope that Bourdain will learn the facts on this issue…I’d love to have dinner with him—perhaps he’d eat (proverbial) crow.
Comments
13 Comments
Martin Dunphy
Oct 29, 2013 at 12:08pm
For Anthony Bourdain to tweet four times (at least) on something that doesn't involve booze, cigarettes, or his ego is surprising.
That he regurgitates the main talking points of supporters of a politically supported slaughter that benefits no one is suspicious.
Book sales tanking, Tony?
Alan Layton
Oct 29, 2013 at 12:27pm
Bourdain is a redneck.
Greg Jefferson
Oct 29, 2013 at 12:51pm
"where fishermen kill as many seals as they can to make a bit of extra cash."
This is ignorance. Don't make accusations about topics you know zip about.
Alan Stephan
Oct 29, 2013 at 1:01pm
Sheryl Fink is cynically playing with words to say "there is no EU ban on Inuit seal skins". The EU ban does indeed include a (politically-correct) "exemption" for seals taken by Inuit people, but the reality is that the ban (and associated campaigning by groups like Ms Fink's IFAW) has destroyed markets (and prices) for all sealskins. Furthermore, Arctic Inuit do not live in the Stone Age; with no revenue from sealskins, it is very difficult to pay for the snowmobiles, boats, gas and other tools they need to hunt. (They need to travel further to hunt, now that they live in small communities -- or would activists deny them access to schools and hospitals too?) So Fink's IFAW and other activist groups cannot escape the true impact their obsessive crusade against the seal hunt -- while BILLIONS of chickens, cows, pigs and other animals are eaten every year in North America and Europe....talk about hypocrisy! Even philopsopher Peter Singer wrote in this book Animal Liberation (that launched the modern animal-rights movement) that it is hypocritical to campaign against the seal hunt while most people eat meat every day! The IFAW's campaigns against the seal hunt also run counter to a cornerstone of modern conservation thinking: i.e., "the sustainable use of renewable natural resources". (This is probably the main reason why the IFAW was refused admittance to the prestigious World Conservation Union.) Bottom line: it looks like Chef Bourdain isn't wrong after all. But wealthy protest groups are clearly worried that his revelations may make some people think twice before renewing their donations to the IFAW and other protest industry groups!
Nick Lakoumentas
Oct 29, 2013 at 1:08pm
A very well written and well thought out article. Exposes Bourdain for the fool that I always suspected.
I support the Canadian seafood industry
Oct 29, 2013 at 1:13pm
The IFAW has used hyperbole and sensationalism to organize an irresponsible mass boycott of many Canadian products. Whole Foods and the Old Spaghetti Factory are two American companies that are operating in Canada while advocating boycotts on a wide range of Canadian products.
Here is a full list of American companies who feel Canadians shouldn't be able to make a living.
The Batali and Bastianich Restaurant Group, BI-LO Supermarkets, Bon Appétit Management Company, China Grill Management Group, Garden Fresh Restaurant Group, Gotham City Hospitality Group, Harris Teeter, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Cafés, Legal Sea Foods, Lowes Foods, McGrath’s Fish House, Patina Restaurant Group, Ted’s Montana Grill, The Old Spaghetti Factory Restaurants, The Venetian and Palazzo Resorts, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Winco Foods
Interesting how many of these companies are Vegas establishments. Since when are Casinos considered socially responsible companies? More seafood and meat gets wasted in gaudy Vegas buffets per week than seals get killed in a year. I guess they'll use anyone and anything to further their misguided agenda.
I wonder how many billions those companies, and chefs, make per year from meat sales? (You know meat, it's the stuff that comes from dead animals)
L Ballentine
Oct 29, 2013 at 6:02pm
Sheryl Fink is wrong, in more ways than one. In her rebuttal to Anthony Bourdain she uses some of the same hogwash she accuses of Bourdain. Hypocrisy aside, IFAW has opposed the commercial seal hunt for over 30 years and to their credit have worked tirelessly to eliminate it worldwide.
Fair enough, but why attack people, such as Mr. Bourdain, who support it? And besides, wasn’t it Paul McCartney who famously didn’t know what province he was in when he conducted a seal hunt publicity stunt in 1996?
IFAW is being disingenuous when they refute the ecological effects posed by seals. Claiming that the expanding east coast seal population is not at least contributing to low fish stocks is like saying cars aren’t contributing to climate change. In fact 7.5 million seals eat 3 times more fish than 35 million Canadians.
And while, indeed, the EU ban does not include traditional aboriginal seal products, the negative market effect is the same.
IFAW also dismisses the needs of those 10,000 Easterners who hold valid sealing licences. Justifying a ban on the grounds that the commercial hunt is only “a bit of extra cash” for those who participate, misses the point. It is financially significant according to those who rely on it.
It is unfortunate that seal hunt opponents can’t see past their agenda and meet supporters, such as Mr. Bourdain, half-way.
Vex Murphy
Oct 30, 2013 at 6:13am
The professional anti-sealing industry has more to lose financially than the fishermen who harvest the seals. Ms. Fink, Paul Watson, Rebecca Aldworth et al are the prinipal beneficiaries of the anti-seal hunt business which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year. To the extent that they rely on outdated photos like the one above (where fishermen are still using wooden boats) and their disingenuous usage of the image of the whitecoat harp which has not been harvested since at least 1987.
Fink, Watson, Aldworth and others regularly draw a 6-digit salary (Watson alone has been recipient of a million dollar parcel of land for his personal mansion)not to mention the lavish lifestyles of the under-informed celebrity shills they recruit to their cause, all the while excoriating subsistence fishermen who in many case earn less than $25,000 per year in the most dangerous industry known to mankind.
Anyone wishing to be informed on the issue of opposing the seal hunt should first glimpse at the motivation of those behind the bluster: The only thing more frightening to these folks than the seal hunt, is the END of the seal hunt.
Da Iceman
Oct 30, 2013 at 8:30am
As much as Inuit has full exemption, that is not actually the case when it comes to EU ban, so much so that the head of the Arctic council has made trips to Europe for talks involving this. Its all politics, if you havent lived in the arctic then you dont know the truth. As an arctic resident, I say both you and Bourdain are correct - Even though the ban is not on ringed seals, the ban itself has far reaching effects and it does affect the very livelihood of even the subsisting Inuit. It does inadvertently become a ban on ringed seals as their hunt for subsistence or otherwise has become suppressed because of the overall ban.
Dion Dakins
Oct 31, 2013 at 9:59am
I quote: "As so often happens when celebrities wade into unfamiliar issues,…"
Right On! And for sure IFAW would never put one of their "Celebrity Experts" in a situation where they would "display a gross lack of understanding."
Isn't that right - Sir Paul and Heather!