Nunavut seal pelt sales plummet

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/11/11/nunavut-seal-sales.html?ref=rss

Last Updated: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 10:19 AM CT

CBC News

[excerpt]
The price of a Nunavut seal pelt has dropped from as high as $70 to as low as $25 over the past year or so, according to a Canadian fur auction house that sells the pelts. (CBC)

Sales of seal pelts from Nunavut have plummeted in the past year and a half, in the wake of the European Union's move this year to ban the trade of seal products.

The impact of worldwide publicity surrounding the ban, which EU parliamentarians passed in May, is already being felt in Nunavut, where Inuit sealers have made a living harvesting seals for the fur market.

Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. in North Bay, Ont., would usually sell most of the 10,000 to 12,000 seal pelts it receives from Nunavut each year, at an average price ranging from $50 to $70, said Ed Ferguson, a fur technician with the auction house.

"Now, in the last year or so, we've sold probably maybe 25 or 30 per cent, and it's at a $25 or $30 number," Ferguson told CBC News.