UK Launch of Canadian Seafood Boycott
9 November 2005
UK launch of Canadian seafood boycott. Members of the public and seafood importers and retailers are to be asked to join the worldwide boycott of Canadian fish and seafood.
Respect for Animals is soon to launch a full-scale boycott of Canadian seafood products to increase the pressure on the Canadian government to bring an end to the cruel seal slaughter.
In 2004, the UK imported £56 million worth of fish and seafood products from Canada (more than five times the value of the landed seal hunt in Newfoundland).
Already, Marks and Spencer has informed Respect for Animals that it has a policy within its seafood purchasing of not trading with any company that is involved in the slaughter of marine mammals, including seals.
In the early 1980s it was action taken by companies such as Tescos that proved decisive and pushed Canada into banning the killing of ‘whitecoat’ harp seal pups. Today, the seals are simply left for a few days until they begin their moult and are therefore no longer ‘whitecoats’. By doing this, the sealers cynically sidestep both the Canadian regulation and the European ban on the import of products from ‘whitecoat’ seals.
More details of the boycott will be available soon. Lists of companies who have joined the boycott will be published as will products and companies that should be boycotted.