In 2009, the EU took a strong stand to protect indigenous Arctic life by banning the trade of seal products in all member states. The decision has since met international controversy and seen complaints lodged both at the World Trade Organisation and at the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. Wildlife in the Arctic is as much a resource as a sustainable component of the ecosystem and the banning touches on animal rights, trade relations and indigenous peoples’ protection.

Some 900,000 seals are hunted every year. There are approximately 15 million seals, and which species can be hunted is closely regulated to ensure they do not become endangered. About a third of all seal products trading is done through the EU market. Between 2000 and 2007, the EU conducted a programme in the Nordic states to encourage seal hunting to become an increasingly sustainable trade. The plan, named ‘Seal: A common resource’, distributed information on how to use creatively all parts of a culled seal. But evidence grew that seals were being killed in inhumane ways and this spurred the EU executive to act.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was asked by the Commission to give an independent opinion on the methods used to kill seals. The report found little information that could be considered unbiased was available, but that enough evidence existed to deduce that humane ways of culling seals were not always being practised. Further studies are being conducted and earlier this year the Nordic Fisheries Department released a report condemning the practices of seal hunters.

Inuits consider the seal hunt an intrinsic part of their culture and the ban exempts their products, which account for 3% of the global trade. But Inuit groups maintain that the ban will depress the market and their trade will become unsustainable. The seal market has collapsed before. In February 1983, the EU banned trade in products made from seal pups and consumers were not prepared to distinguish between those items and the specifically exempted Inuit products.

Canada and Norway have filed an official complaint at the WTO, claiming that the ban violates existing trade rules. Several Inuit communities have joined them and have filed cases at the ECJ. While the seal hunt may prove to be a sore point for the free trade agreement that is being negotiated now between Canada and the EU, the ban is also widely suspected of being the reason Canada is blocking the EU’s observer status bid on the Arctic Council.