Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Web posted at 8:04:05 GMT
Namibian

Seals become trophies

BRIGITTE WEIDLICH
SEALS living along the Namibian coast are being internationally advertised to trophy hunters, although they are listed as an endangered species under an international convention.

Seals are also not on the official list of huntable game species in Namibia.

A local hunting operator, Kataneno Hunt, is offering hunting trips to shoot Cape Fur Seal bulls.

On the Internet the proprietor of Kataneno Hunt, Heiko Binding, says that "hunting for Cape Fur Seal bulls at the coast not far from Swakopmund can be arranged, ideally with a fishing trip and/or a touristic (sic) trip from September 15 to November 15 only".

The seal hunt is offered for 860 euros (about N$8 600) plus travel expenses and a lunch pack.

It costs 300 euros (about N$3 000) extra per day for a local professional hunter to accompany the tourist.

Accommodation is an additional expense.

The website is in German, French and English and two photos illustrate the seal hunt.

One photo shows a hunter clad in camouflage gear lying behind a rock on the beach waiting for a seal bull, with a hunting guide next to him and a second photo where a shot bull is being examined.

Kataneno Hunt is a registered member of the Namibian Professional Hunters Association (Napha), which has a list of 41 huntable species on its official website, but seals are excluded.

The mission statement of Napha says: "Our intent is to ensure and promote ethical conduct, sustainable utilisation of natural resources, and to secure the industry for current and future generations."

Napha further "insists that its members provide the highest standard of professional service to international hunting guests.

They are expected to hunt strictly in accordance with the ethical principles as stipulated in Napha's Hunting Code.

The Hunting Professional (HP) is at all times encouraged to act responsibly towards nature, wildlife and the local population," according to the mission statement.

As far as The Namibian could establish, no seal hunting concessions have been issued to any trophy-hunting company.

An expert in the tourism and trophy-hunting industry who was contacted yesterday said he was "highly shocked and totally unaware of any seal hunting offered to tourists".

According to the South African-based organisation Seal Alert, which discovered the seal trophy hunting and brought it to the attention of The Namibian yesterday, it was "shocking and harming Namibia's tourism sector internationally."

Francois Hugo, who runs Seal Alert, said Namibia advertised the Cape Cross seal colony as the largest in southern Africa for sightseeing tourists in glossy brochures.

"Now they are also hunted, but it is not a proper hunt, the seals are very tame along the Namibian coast and are often sleeping on the beach.

Is that trophy hunting, never mind ethical hunting principles?" Hugo was in Windhoek at the end of last week to give a presentation on how seal culling could be stopped in Namibia, which was attended by over 30 marine experts and scientists and officials from the Ministries of Fisheries and Environment and Tourism.

* Last month, the South African Sunday newspaper Rapport alleged that another business, Cape Cross Lodge, was organising seal-hunt expeditions.

In that case, the manager of Cape Cross Lodge, Leon Swanepoel, said the story was "wrong" and the the information "twisted".

i remember the seals laying around on the ice pack in the artic when hunting bear. an ice bear would come by and every seal in sight would disappear in a blink. hunting them on the ice would be something different

I wish there were open season on seals and especially sea lions in California. What a bunch of overpopulated pests.

Biltong may take on a whole new meaning. Muktuk anyone?

I shot several, far to many actually, trying to get dog food when I was living for a couple weeks on the ice north of Victoria island, NWT. Very fun to hunt and trap with hooks in their breathing holes. Not bad eating if you are very hungry. Spooky how much the body looks like a persons when you remove the fat suit they have. I would love to hunt them again.

Some years back, a girl with whom I took my initial German hunting course and her boy-friend wrote an article in one the German hunting rags about seal hunting in Namibia. I don't know if they got the opportunity through his work - I think he did some work as a wildlife biologist in Namibia at the time.

I seem to remember they shot the seals with a silenced rifle, so maybe it was some sort of control operation?

- mike

Weren't they encouraging seal hunts in Norway ? The thought was that they were eating too many fish and hurting that industry .

After my hunt in May, we went kayaking out among the fur seals in Walvis Bay, which I assume is the same place this is talking about. Talk about tame! They'd see you coming and swim toward you and want to play around the boat. They'd nip at your paddle if you stopped moving. There were other boats full of tourists that would feed the things and pull up in the middle of the colony and the seals showed absolutely no fear. I don't think that anything approaching "hunting" is remotely possible with these animals.

I have photos if someone smarter than me wants to post them.

perhaps if you joined "club seals"(i gotta go now)

Great White's (Carcharodon carcharias) favor Seal's off Cape Town, RSA's coast, and watching them leap 10+ feet in the air with a Seal in it's mouth is astounding! "Air Jaws" has been shown many times on the cable networks and the guy who photographed this action has a web site. His color prints and posters are rather expensive.
"I wish there were open season on seals and especially sea lions in California. What a bunch of overpopulated pests." I've seen this on fishing shows A_P. Folks can't even reel in a fish without a Seal coming and taking away hook, line and sinker...with fish. Over population of Seals has caused the Shark/Surfer incidents to rise, but it's OK (with the Anti's) if Sharks kill humans. Seals kill Penguins. I don't hear anyone crying about that. LDK

quote:

"I wish there were open season on seals and especially sea lions in California. What a bunch of overpopulated pests." I've seen this on fishing shows A_P. Folks can't even reel in a fish without a Seal coming and taking away hook, line and sinker...with fish.

I really don't feel any sympathy for the sport fishermen who lose their catch to sea lions off the CA coast.

Particularly not as a commercial fisherman who's been targeted by sport fishermen with ballot measures to ban my gear. The sporties used animal rights tactics then, showing pics of sea lions in nets, etc.

And now they want the ability to lethally take sea lions depredating their catch.

Ain't gonna happen.

Well, the commercial elements have done a pretty darn good job of slashing and burning everything off the coast of California. With the commercials killing everything in sight and the Green turning everything useful into MPAs, the only real fishing in the area is for pelagics. Coastal sport fishing in California is in pretty sorry shape these days because of commercial overfishing, plain and simple. The behavior of the commercials gives the Greens all the ammunition they need to convert everything useful into untouchable national parks. Sustainable recreation use may be a hope for the future, but it's presently crushed between the commercial and Green lobbies.

What is owned by everyone is owned by no-one.

quote:

Well, the commercial elements have done a pretty darn good job of slashing and burning everything off the coast of California.

Yeah sure dude. Sporties are blameless right ?

Your rhetoric is the same I've heard from the enviros and animal rights types.

My fisheries haven't been 'slashed and burned', they have in fact been well managed for years.

Whatever.

quote:

Whatever.

That's about what I expected.

You painted with a broad brush and it's unwarranted.

So a seal walks into a bar.......

The bartender says,"what'll you have?"

The seal says "well, pretty much anything but a Canadian Club on the rocks".

Since we can't tell sportys from commys from any other Californian, I think its best if we just cull all of them to be certain we get the right ones. What do you think Skinner?

quote:

Originally posted by Skinner.:

quote:

Whatever.

That's about what I expected.

You painted with a broad brush and it's unwarranted.

What's the comparison of sport fishing take compared to commercial take of resident fish off the coast of California?

All I fish are pelagics off the coast so I'm not getting into a pissing contest with anyone, I honestly don't know.

quote:

Since we can't tell sportys from commys from any other Californian, I think its best if we just cull all of them to be certain we get the right ones.

I second that thought!!!!!!!!!!!

LRH270 - that was hilarious!

There is seal hunting in Norway, it has been that for many years , and foreigners can some up here and hunt also .

They can be a plague on aquafarms , and stopping the salmon from getting up the rivers, so its an predator and sickness carrier.

I havent had chance to hunt seal yet, but im hoping on that, a rifle with varmint bullets are recomemend, minimum 6,5x55 mm up here, but they used before , 222 Rem, 223, 22-250 with different twist in the barrel for heavier bullets, 5,6x57, 243s, etc.


But when not enough native hunters can hunt the limit, others must come and help out.

Even with the numbers most favorable to the commercial interests, we see that 3 out of 4 fish caught in California are caught by commercials. I **personally** believe that the numbers are far, far more skewed, but these are **official** numbers.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/fforum2004.html#nearshore

"More than 80 species of bottom-dwelling marine fishes are included in the Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) implemented by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). Species and species groups managed under the FMP include all rockfishes (about 60 species); sablefish; thornyheads; lingcod; Dover sole and other flatfishes; Pacific whiting; and some sharks and rays. During 2003, California commercial groundfish landings totaled 10,553 metric tons, worth $14.7 million ex-vessel. This was a decline of about 1,700 metric tons and $1.4 million from 2002. In addition to the commercial catch, an estimated 1.7 million marine anglers caught 3,100 metric tons of groundfish during 2003, up from 2,000 metric tons in 2002."

A vacationing penguin is driving through Arizona when he notices that the oil-pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oil dripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops at the first gas station.

After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big bowl of vanilla ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands, he makes a real mess trying to eat with his little flippers.

After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem. The mechanic looks up and says, "It looks like you blew a seal."

"No, no," the penguin replies, "It's just ice cream."

quote:

Originally posted by LRH270:
So a seal walks into a bar.......

The bartender says,"what'll you have?"

The seal says "well, pretty much anything but a Canadian Club on the rocks".

That's an old joke in these parts, but it still makes me laugh.

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

3 out of 4 fish caught in California are caught by commercials

With the majority of marine fishes caught by commercial fishermen being species not targeted by sport fishermen. Can't say as I've seen sport fishermen taking Dover sole or Petrale in 2,000 feet of water 30 miles offshore.

And there are species that are sport take only, such as calico bass and sandbass.

The nearshore species that commercials and sports both take such as California halibut and white seabass are both doing fine. Fact is that gear and area restrictions on commercials have greatly benefitted the sports. But that doesn't stop them from whining.

Diana used to offer guided seal hunts in Greenland. I have not seen their catalog for the last 2 years, but I am assuming they still do. Getting it back in the US would take some creativity.

If you hunt from a canoe can be a sporting hunt ,i dont know why you will not hunt them .Juan

http://www.diana.dk/

Here is their webpage, you can read the catalog in pdf form.

Why wouldn't you hunt them?

Because "hunting" the tame seals in Walvis Bay would actually be less sporting than "hunting" the proverbial holstein in its pasture.

Even from a canoe.

I don't think words can convey quite how fearless these things are.