Canada's Nunavut exempted from EU's measures prohibiting seal products importation

The European Union has formally approved the application put forward by the local government of Canada's Nunavut to become a recognized entity under the Indigenous Communities Exemption of the EU Seal Regime.

This means that the Nunavut government will be able to certify that sealskins are harvested in accordance with the rules of the exemption, thereby allowing Nunavut hunters to sell their sealskins and sealskin products in the European market, said the Nunavut department of environment in a press release Friday.

Nunavut is the least populous territory in northeastern Canada. Covering 1,877,787 square kilometers of land and 160,935 square kilometers of water, it has a population of 36,687, mostly Inuit. The sale of sealskins will provide hunters with an important source of income and help to improve the economic sustainability of seal hunting, which also provides much-needed healthy food to remote Nunavut communities, according to the press release.

After the EU seals ban was adopted in 2009, international demand and prices for sealskins collapsed. Nunavut government has been striving hard to keep purchasing sealskins from seal hunters through its "Fur Pricing Program" in a bid to help hunters preserve their way of life.

Seals have been thriving both in northern and Atlantic waters of Canada, with their numbers exceeding 7 million with no sign of a declining trend, said the press release. Endite