Protection of wildlife and on seal hunting

Recommendation 825 (1978)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 24 January 1978 (20th Sitting) (see Doc. 4095, report of the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities). Text adopted by the Assembly on 24 January 1978 (20th Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Having taken note of the report on the protection of wildlife presented by its Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities (Doc. 4095) ;

2. Deploring the disappearance of a growing number of species of wild flora and fauna which are part of the natural heritage and essential factors in the ecological balance of our planet ;

3. Recalling its earlier initiatives on behalf of the natural environment and endangered species, particularly migratory birds (Recommendation 783 (1976)) ;

4. Recalling also its own proposals and the measures already taken to "humanise" the treatment of animals and slaughtering methods ;

5. Considering Committee of Ministers Resolution (77) 7, on the protection of threatened mammals in Europe ;

6. Concerned about the risk of certain species of seals becoming extinct as a result of the deterioration of their natural environment and of hunting on a scale exceeding economic needs and by methods unworthy of human beings,

7. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

a invite the governments of the member states directly concerned to take the following measures to ensure the effective protection and survival of seal populations :

impose at least a two-year ban on the hunting of harp seals (pagophilus groenlandicus) ;

during that period, intensify census and research on survival conditions for seals in polar and sub-polar regions ;

fix hunting quotas for subsequent years, calculated to maintain the species' ecological balance ;

give priority to the indigenous population in the issue of hunting licences ;

bring hunting licences, hunters' professional qualifications and killing methods under regulation and strict supervision, and prohibit practices causing the hunted animals needless suffering ;

control coastal pollution, particularly pollution from land based sources, which threatens numerous wildlife habitats, especially seals ;

b invite the governments concerned to give special attention to the protection of the Mediterranean monk seal (monachus monachus), a species in danger of extinction, and the common seal population (phoca vitulina) in the western part of the Waddensee, and request them :

to give priority to studies and measures to reduce the disastrous pollution by PCBs ;

to speed up the creation of reserves where seals cannot be disturbed during the time of pupping and suckling ;

c invite all governments :

a to ratify as soon as possible, if they have not already done so, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Washington Convention), and international legal instruments aimed at reducing or eliminating marine pollution ;

b to strictly control, or prohibit, the importing and use of baby seal skins ;

d transmit this recommendation to the ad hoc committee appointed to draw up a legal instrument on the protection of wildlife, with a request to take its content into account in the preparation of that instrument.