Hi Wolfgang: That is about my sentiments as well. I don't have a problem with a fur coat ( Beaver, racoon etc.). And I don't object to a goose dinner. But in truth if you ever saw first hand what a seal "harvest ' looks like, it mellows the coldest of hearts. They basically go onto the ice flows and whack the little critters to death with a club, while the mothers painfully watch. If they took adults in accordance with some rational formula, it wouldn't be as gross. Some of the oils of seals and whales still is a sort of item. Lipstick and other cosmetics for example employ mink oil and others. Not sure about seals. But you never see a picture of a mink in the fashion ads. What sparked my interest was the goose numbers that were quoted as staging on one of the small northern islands . Where I live, there are so many that everyone wants them reduced. The new name for a Canada Goose, that icon of the north, in southern Ontario at least is now a "nuisance" goose, unless it can be identified as a bird just visiting in migration season, a feathered tourist kinda. Parks, grain fields, beaches, everywhere you look, huge ugly goose dung. Point is, in Orkney I see these fields of grain waving in the wind, and wonder if those thousands of birds have acquired a taste for bere. If they haven't as yet, bets are on. When a big flock pounds on a grain field for a day or two, the farmer has a right to be concerned. Your point about fishing is well taken. I suppose the fish farmers from time to time have their days with the seals. and yes, in this country, we have stood by while the famous Grand Banks have been dragnetted into a biological desert, compared to what they were. Yours truly: Stephen On Thursday, October 21, 2004, at 03:59 PM, Wolfgang Schlick wrote: > Hi Stephen! > > As a regular visitor to the Islands I'm happy to say that they (try > to) keep > them as a tourist attraction and don't "harvest" them. (Despite some > bustards who shoot with no regard pubs and/or breading mothers and who > may > be called before the procurator fiscal). > I don't agree with all the attitudes of the "anti-fur folks", as you > call > them, but as far as the oil is concerned: > Some Inuit may need it, some Faeroese may want it - and they may > harvest > seals (in accordance with all the major environment associations); but > "we" > neither in Europe nor in Canada "need" it ... so there ist no reason > for > harvesting them for oil. > ... and as far as the fishermen are concerned: If a single seal or any > seal > population in any region will be a risk for a single fisherman or a > fishing > community within that said region, it is nothing else but one of our > home-baked problems on planet Earth: We - the human folks - and not > they - > the selkies - have taken to much fish from the waters ... :-) > > cu > Wolfgang > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send an e-mail with the > word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com >