One of the world's most recognizable rock stars and his wife staged a high profile protest against Canada's seal hunt on an ice floe in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Thursday.
Former Beatle Paul McCartney called the centuries-old commercial hunt a "stain on the character of the Canadian people," and urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to put an end to it.
The longtime animal rights activist and his wife Heather left Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on a small plane to Iles-de-la-Madeleine, where they boarded a helicopter which took them to a large ice floe.
Dressed in orange survival suits, the couple lay on their bellies to get a close-up look at newborn harp seals as an entourage of about three dozen media and animal rights activists looked on.
"Previous Canadian governments have allowed this heartbreaking hunt to continue despite the fact that the majority of its citizens ... are opposed to it,'' the McCartneys said in a statement.
"We have complete faith that Prime Minister Harper will take swift and decisive action to end the slaughter of these defenceless seal pups for good.''
According to recent figures, the industry is worth up to $20 million annually and employs up to 10,000 people, most of them in Newfoundland.
McCartney said he doesn't want to see local people suffer, "but from what we hear, it is quite a small amount of their annual revenue -- and this could be easily sorted out by the Canadian government, if they care to do it.''
Another perspective
Some Atlantic Canadian politicians and sealers organizations have been critical of McCartney's highly-publicized visit, but a spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans decided to take a proactive approach when he found himself on a plane with the McCartneys.
Phil Jenkins told CTV Newsnet he sat down beside the couple on the flight to P.E.I. to try and give them a new perspective on the seal hunt.
"They didn't have any handlers with them or anyone to run interference, so I though it was a pretty good opportunity to tell the other side of the seal story which I didn't think they had much opportunity to hear, which is the DFO side of the story, we manage the seal hunt," Jenkins said.
The conversation lasted for about 30 minutes, and Jenkins said he had the chance to explain that the seal population is by no means threatened in the region. In fact, it is at its highest level in years.
Jenkins also said it became apparent during the conversation that the McCartney's have spent most of their time with people who are against the seal hunt, and don't have a complete picture of the situation.
He encouraged them to become better informed.
"I asked them to talk to the real people involved in this industry," Jenkins said. "Talk to the sealers and go to fishing villages and talk to people who are engaged in this industry and need it for their livelihood to get a fuller and more complete picture of the seal hunt and what it means to the Maritimes and Atlantic Canadians."
At the end of the conversation, Jenkins said McCartney told him he would read the educational material he had provided to him.
Celebrity protests
McCartney follows in the footsteps of other stars who have protested the seal hunt, such as Brigitte Bardot, Pamela Anderson, and TV's MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson.
Jim Winter, the co-founder of the Canadian Sealers Association, told CTV Newsnet he questions the motives of celebrities who use their fame to promote a cause.
"These guys like McCartney and the other celebrities, Pamela Anderson and so on, they don't know anything about this. Basically what bothers me is they're only using sealing as a vehicle," said Winter, from St. John's, Newfoundland.
"It's got nothing to do with sealing. It's a tactic, divide and conquer, and they're very adept at it and these (animals rights) groups are very adept at using celebrities ... to attract media. Without media, they've got nothing."
The protest was organized by the Humane Society of the United States and the British-based group, Respect for Animals.
In 2004, the federal government estimated there were 5.9 million harp seals on the East Coast, up from two million in the early 1970s. Ottawa estimated the value of the hunt was around $16 million, and has implemented hunting quotas and a three-year management plan to keep the seal population sustainable.
Organizers of the trip cancelled plans to fly over the area Wednesday because of bad weather, but by early Thursday the weather in Charlottetown was good -- partly cloudy and cool, with light winds and the temperature hovering around -12 C.
The hunt typically runs from mid-March through to mid-April.
With files from The Canadian Press
