And why the Canadian DFO is without doubt one of the most corrupt governmental departments in the western world.
This isn't an issue about Vancouver, the winter olympics, boxing roo flags or Canada in general, it's actually very specific, it's been happening for decades and there needs to be a radical change in mindset before we soon hit the point of no return.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is simply put; the most out of control, blood thirsty, money grabbing governmental department of any western nation. The DFO is responsible for the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's fisheries resources. This however could not be further from reality. There is absolutely nothing sustainable about the policies and incompetecance of the Canadian DFO.
The issue at hand should start and end with the annual baby seal hunt, but there are so many other illogical points I don't even know where to start. Anyway, try as I may...
Annual seal hunt;
Hundreds of thousands of baby Harp Seal are brutally masacared on the ice of Canada's east every year. In the last 3 years alone 3 million Harp Seal pups have been shot, battered and smashed in the skull with battons and picks and then left in their own blood to die the most agonizing death.
The hunt is supported and funded by the federal government and and refuses to budge on its stance. Funnily enough their only reason for not ending the hunt is "cultural" and the only livelihood of the Inuit people of Newfoundland.
Boo fucking hoo... The government could easily train these people in other trades and subsidise incomes to the same amount of the seal hunt with no problems. It just seems like the Canadian gov has the same childish mentality as the Japanese stance on whaling. If you tell them what to do, they'll do the opposite, very professional right? However, like everything else it comes down to the bottom line, why else would a government continue doing something that should have been left in the 19th century with slavery, against increasing pressure from the worldwide community and governments.
Narwhals murder
In November 2008, one of the most shocking and undefendable decisions of the DFO lead to the ruthless murder of 500 innocent Narwhals trapped in ice in the Arctic. The DFO out did themselves this time... the most evil, incompetent and dangerous bureaucracy in Canada insanely decided to shoot every last one of them. The Canadian gov has a fleet of powerful ice-breakers and could have easily broken the whales to open water. Their response to this darkest, most heartless of decisions?
"the noise of the icebreakers would have been stressful to the whales."
WTF! Are you serious? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?! So instead of temporarily stressing the whales to break them free, you decide to shoot them like fish in a barrel - literally? Ofcourse as per usual, there is a hidden agenda... $$$. Again this gave the Inuit the perfect motivation for the killing, the tusks or "unicorn horns" are a rare bonanza and sell for thousands on the black market pumping plenty into the economy of the white far north.
A few months ago the DFO suggested that the Canadian Winter Olympic team wear seal fur uniforms in the opening ceremony. Most of the athletes and some sane beurocrats objected. Apparently rendering them all unpatriotic.
Just this week, the G7 Finance Ministers (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, United States, Japan, Canada) were invited to a dinner by hosts Canada consisting of Seal meat both cooked and raw, Narwhal whale meat, Beluga Whale meat (both whales are listed as Endangered by the IUCN) among other native meats. The deligates wouldn't come to the party, rendering them racist.
But it doesn't stop there. Nothing is sacred under the incompetent watch of the ever so corrupt Canadian DFO, nothing is safe.
Among many other things, the DFO is responsible for the collapse of the Cod and Salmon fishing industries.
A good example of one of the poorer uneducated excuses for making some of the rediculious decisions, is the classic behind one of the piss poor justifications of the seal hunt. In the wake of destroying the fishing stocks, the buerocrats felt the need to justify the "seal harvest" as they put it... so what better way than to come out and say that seals are not only competing for the same fish that is taken for human consumption but that the seals were the reason for the collapse of these stocks. Obviously this is utter crap, a 5 year old could tell you that sustainable practices would have prevented this in the first place. Not to mention that both the fish and seals have lived harmoniously well before human interruption.
Another point worth mentioning is that the commercial seal hunt was shut down in 1984, but was revived in 1994, two years after the collapse of the North Atlantic cod fishery. Coincidence... yeah sure.
Despite the resources at their finger tips urging them to carefully manage these industries they have failed very miserably and in most cases have defied all reasonable logic comitting some of the most horrific environmental crimes imaginable.
For these reasons and many more I will be shunning these winter olympics and asking others to think about it themselves.
