Ottawa Strikes Deal to Sell Seal Products to China

The trade agreement could be a boon to Canada’s controversial sealing industry.

Paul McCartney will not be pleased, nor will any other critics of the East Coast seal hunt. Environmentalists say the hunt is cruel, but those concerns have not deterred China from agreeing to import seal oil, meat, and pelts from Canada in a deal announced in Beijing on Wednesday by Fisheries Minsiter Gail Shea. Proponents of the hunt say with a population of 11 million harp seals, the region is overpopulated, and even the World Wildlife Fund has defended harvesting the animals. The deal with China is a huge relief for the sealing industry, which took a huge hit last year when the European union banned the import of Canadian seal products.