Ensuring a Sustainable and Humane Seal Harvest - Nunavut ...

APPENDIX ARECOMMENDATIONS OF THESEAL REPORT (JUNE 1999)RECOMMENDATION 1The Committee recommends the formation of a panel of eminentpersons, similar to the Independent Review Panel on NorthernCod (the "Harris Report"). The purpose of the panel would be toevaluate the current state of scientific knowledge and to provideadvice on a long — term strategy for the management of sealpopulations.The panel must develop a five — year strategic reduction andutilization plan and report on items, including but notnecessarily limited to the following:• scientific methodologies for estimating sealpopulations;• scientific methodologies for estimating the totalmagnitude of the hunt including unreported losses andbest estimates of the long—term impact of the hunt onseal populations;• the current state of knowledge about the diet of sealsand the impact of seal consumption on cod and othercommercial fish stocks and to provide advice ondirections for improving the state of scientificknowledge in this regard; and• the optimum size of the harp seal population in terms ofits interaction with the ecosystem in general and withcommercial fish stocks in particular and guidance withrespect to management of the harp seal herd in orderthat such a population size can be achieved.RECOMMENDATION 2The Committee recommends that the Department of Fisheriesand Oceans conduct both experimental harvests andexperimental seal exclusion zones. These should include the2J3KL (Northern cod) fishery, the 4TVn (southern Gulf of St.29