Canada’s appeal of WTO ruling on EU seal-product is an exercise in futility

There's a well-known maxim of sociology that I learned long ago in university, which I think applies to Canada's fruitless attempts to sustain the seal hunt: Things perceived as real are real in their consequences.

In other words, people will act on what they think is happening regardless of the facts.

Canada lost a crucial case before the World Trade Organization this week aimed at quashing a four-year-old ban on seal products imposed by the European Union (EU).

In its panel report, the WTO agreed with Canada (and fellow complainer Norway) that the EU violated global trading rules by barring importation of products of the East Coast seal hunt. But it decided to uphold the ban because "it fulfils the objective of addressing EU public moral concerns on seal welfare to a certain extent ..."

Simply put, the Europeans believe the seal hunt is cruel and that perception is enough to justify the ban.

[ Related: Seal hunt: One opponent leaves the ice as another vows to settle in ]

The federal government quickly announced Monday that it will appeal the adverse part of the ruling, CTV News reported.

"Canada remains steadfast in its position that the seal harvest is a humane, sustainable and well-regulated activity," senior ministers said in a joint statement. "Any views to the contrary are based on myths and misinformation and the panels’ findings should be of concern to all WTO members.”

And there you have it. There's nothing wrong with the seal hunt, just the Europeans' perception of it.

But maybe it's time for Canada to hang up its hakapik, the traditional seal-killing spiked club. This seems like a costly war it can't win.

The sealing industry's proponents, backed by Ottawa, have fought a losing public-relations battle with animal campaigners for decades. Pressure forced seal hunters to adopt more humane killing methods, such as rifles, and taking helpless white-coated baby seals has long been outlawed.

But it's hard to compete with images of blood-streaked ice as dead seals are dragged to boats, or of celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney and Pamela Anderson getting up close with adorable seal pups. Granted, TV chef Anthony Bourdain supports the traditional Inuit seal hunt (which isn't covered by the EU ban but nonetheless has been hurt by it), but high-profile supporters are thin on the ground.

[ Related: Seal hunts may disappear as market for pelts shrinks ]

The fact is, despite millions of taxpayer dollars spent on public relations and education campaigns abroad, seal products are increasingly unwelcome abroad.

Arguments that the East Coast harp seal population is extremely healthy and its numbers may be impeding the recovery of vulnerable fish stocks, or that seal meat and oil are healthful products are falling on deaf ears.

A Newfoundland-Labrador government fact sheet puts the economic value of its sealing industry at more than $55 million a year. It accounts for up to one third of the annual income of sealers living in the province's economically strained coastal communities.

But anti-sealing groups point to millions of dollars in government subsidies given to the industry over the years, most recently a $3.6-million loan by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador to a processing company.

Meanwhile, almost three dozen countries have their doors to seal products, including the United States, Mexico, Russia and Taiwan.

Even China, seen as a crucial new market as bans spread elsewhere, now seems to be balking, Global News reports. Chinese animal-rights activists staged a protest earlier this month at an international fisheries and seafoods show.

"I think, in a way, it's an exercise in futility," Sheryl Fink, who works with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told CBC News.

"I would much prefer, as a Canadian, to see the government use our tax dollars to help find an alternative solution to help sealers out of the industry."

Maybe she's right. The moral indignation of the seal hunt seems hypocritical to many people, given how other animals that we consume are treated. The French still produce foie gras, made by force-feeding ducks and geese to bloat their livers. Let's not even start on China's reputation as a market for poached endangered species.

The Canadian Press reported in May that last spring's harvest of 91,000 seals was up from previous years but less than a quarter of the federal quota of 400,000. An industry spokesman also said pelt prices were up and domestic demand for products was growing.

Yet it's hard to escape the feeling this WTO appeal feels like a last stand in a war that's already been lost.