Seal Market

[xman]

It appears that Canada has made a deal with China to sell seal products, such as meat and oil to their market. I wonder if this will mean that US and European markets will loosen up to trade for sporrans and such because the resource is now clearly less exclusively fur centric.

http://www.firstperspective.ca/relea...otiations.html

[jhockin]

wonder why they still prefer clubbing, rather than shooting?

[xman]

'Parently clubbing is the quickest, most human end for them although shooting is also done.

[artificer]

I'd be nice to get some seal down our way. It's silly that Inuit are allowed to hunt seal and sell the pelts (in Alaska) but we in other parts of the US aren't allowed to buy a product that's ALREADY IN THE COUNTRY.

[Downunder Kilt]

I'd be nice to get some seal down our way. It's silly that Inuit are allowed to hunt seal and sell the pelts (in Alaska) but we in other parts of the US aren't allowed to buy a product that's ALREADY IN THE COUNTRY.

Is there not some kind of law/convention in relation to free trade between the states of the USA. I know in Australia that if the goverment tried to stop free trade between our states that the constitutional lawyers would be beating a path to our High Court to challenge the situation.

[artificer]

Is there not some kind of law/convention in relation to free trade between the states of the USA. I know in Australia that if the goverment tried to stop free trade between our states that the constitutional lawyers would be beating a path to our High Court to challenge the situation.

Unfortunately, as I understand it, it has nothing to do with free trade so much as a "Protected Marine Mammals Act" which prevents the sale of seal skin in the US. The Inuit are exempted as an indigenous people (as it's part of their traditional culture and food sources).

The odd 'grey area' exists in that they are allowed to sell the pelts. Americans aren't allowed to buy the fur based on the previously mentioned Act. So the Inuit can sell to Canadians, Europeans, (presumably Australians), and just about anyone else EXCEPT for fellow Americans in the lower 48.

I've heard that fellow Alaskans (or tourists visiting) can purchase the furs though...

All in all, I consider it just another classic work of American law (ie big, stupid loopholes in an otherwise strict code).

[Downunder Kilt]

Scott, I just had a quick squiz at one of your goverment sites and found the following paragraph in a fact sheet:

The moratorium generally does not apply to Alaska natives who live on the Alaskan coast.

The MMPA contains provisions allowing for take for subsistence use or to create and sell “authentic articles of handicrafts and clothing” without permits or authorizations.

The taking must not be“accomplished in a wasteful manner,” and the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior may regulate the taking of a depleted species or stock, regardless of the purpose for which it is taken.

The second pargraph is interesting

Perhaps one of the “authentic articles of handicrafts and clothing” would consist of seal pelt(s)

[artificer]

Scott, I just had a quick squiz at one of your goverment sites and found the following paragraph in a fact sheet:

The moratorium generally does not apply to Alaska natives who live on the Alaskan coast.

The MMPA contains provisions allowing for take for subsistence use or to create and sell “authentic articles of handicrafts and clothing” without permits or authorizations.

The taking must not be“accomplished in a wasteful manner,” and the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior may regulate the taking of a depleted species or stock, regardless of the purpose for which it is taken.

The second pargraph is interesting

Perhaps one of the “authentic articles of handicrafts and clothing” would consist of seal pelt(s)

So far (and I've contacted several Alaskan vendors) that doesn't extend to full pelts posted to the US. It's mostly mittens and such.

It's a great source of personal frustration.

[AKScott]

I kind of agree with Alan too.

I live in Fairbanks, AK. The cloud cover cleared out last night, temps are down from +5F yesterday to -20F already tonight and dropping like a stone. If it stays clear we could see -50F for a high on Friday. I didn't own any fur until I moved way far north and I get that fur is a hot button for a lot of folks.

At -30F and below, I don't go out without all my fox pieces. I am comfortable in goretex and synthetic fibers down to about -10F or so, from there it is a judgement call as the mercury keeps dropping.

The great thing about seal, from my perspective, is it is the warmest fur of all. Lots of those animals have 150,000 (yes, one hundred fifty thousand) hairs per square inch of hide. That stuff is warmer than beaver fur. Among non-protected species beaver is the warmest, but seal is the ne plus ultra.

{I can't find an internet reference for the hair count. I originally read it on a display placard inside the Museum of the North on campus at University of Alaska at Fairbanks.}

Seems kind of a waste to make a sporran out of the stuff. I get that sealskin is traditional but to me that is a lot of money. The other thing is there are so many other pelts to choose from.

I would suggest google image searching fur pelts instead of fur sporrans. I personally found this site when I googled fur sporrans. The stuff that was coming up on google images was really not that great. I don't know a lot about fur, but I have learned a bunch since I moved up here. So I googled custom sporrans instead thinking I might supply my own decent pelt instead of settling for what I was seeing offered. Googling custom sporrans got me to Taygrd's commercial site, and I found a link to here on his site.

I don't see a single logical reason for an inteligent Xmarker to buy a ready made fur sporran when there are so many excellent pelts to choose from and folks like Taygrd and Artificer and so on cranking out handmade one offs at such reasonable prices. The variety of fur out there from species that aren't protected is mind boggling.

If you live in the USA and have a sealskin sporran put together after the Marine Mammal Act went into effect I get that you are on the fringes of legality and have a lot more free cash flow than me to spend on a traditional material; but seriously you aren't wearing any underwear and the ambient temperature is what?

I do want a pair of sealskin pants. In those I can go to work and change into surgical scrubs without having to deal with any layers of long underwear down to -55F or so. My first winter up here I spent as much as an hour each day putting on layer after layer of long underwear, then get to work and take off layer after layer, then put on layer after layer to leave work...below -30F just going out to check the mail is an ordeal.

[xman]

As a pescatarian (eats fish, but otherwise vegetarian)) I resist the thought of needlessly killing any creature, but the seal product ban has, I'm quite sure, more to do with politics than sense. I feel they deserve no status as 'protected', they're not endangered and they're a blight on the fisheries. I've made the choice not to wear fur (urban life makes it easy) even for dress occasions because of the moral tangle it weaves in people's minds alone, but if there was one that I would wear it would be seal for all the reasons mentioned already.

I guess I'm waiting for reason to prevail. Could be a long wait.